Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
by nannygirl
Summary: Every Thanksgiving everyone gets together at the Forman House for food, laughs, and few good burns. Ths year however someone from the past joins them. Find out who! It's a Thanksgiving story about the whole family! JH,ED,KB,RK,FL UPDATED!
1. Preview

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own That 70's Show or any of its characters. I do not own the song "Home For The Holidays" either. So in summary, I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **Hello all! I know you all are probably think 'What the heck are you doing working on another story when you still have four other stories that are unfinished?'My answer to that is a shrug and an 'I don't know.' But I know I want to! And don't you worry about how I'll mange to work on this story too along with the others and go to school and all that other fun stuff—Just leave that to me—and you just enjoy the story! I really hope you do. This si a holiday story, just like last year when I did 'Stuck With You' for Christmas well this year it's Thanksgiving! Also this story will be taking place in the future—it's needed to be for certain story lines. The plan for updates on this story is still not sure but I know I'm shooting for every Thursday until Thanksgiving week when an update will be posted every day. Will let you know of any changes. Anywoo here's the preview for the new story, hopefully it doesn't give too much away, you'll be staying tuned and most importantly you like it. Enough with the chit chat, Enjoy!_

**_Updated AN June '12: _**_Because I don't want to take the risk of the fic being taken down I have deleted the lyrics that had previously been posted as part of this opening chapter. However you can still read this chapter and to get the whole experience by listen to the song that had once been on here which was 'Home For the Holidays' or any other song you might think would go well. Sorry if it's a bit confusing and I hope you'll continue to read the story :D_

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**Guess Who's Coming to Dinner**

A That 70's Show Thanksgiving Story

_**Thanksgiving at the Forman house is like any other Thanksgiving…**_

_**The women in the kitchen…**_

The Forman kitchen is full with the women of the family. Jackie and Donna are sitting at the round table while Laurie sits on one of the orange bar stools and Kitty busies herself with checking on a few of the pots resting on the stove.

_**The men watching the game…**_

The men in the living room are all seated in the sitting area. Red is in his armchair intensely watching the television set. Hyde and Eric are seen sitting on the couch; Hyde is relaxed and leaning back as he watches the game while Eric looks bored and is reaching into the nearby bowl to grab some of the snack mix and then adding it to his growing tower.

_**And the kids running around the house…**_

A line of small children are seen running from Red's den through the living room and kitchen—past those in the rooms—and into the basement. A little girl no older than five leads them as a young boy the same age follows and behind him another little girl who looks a few years older than them both. Behind the trio chasing them are the oldest of the kids; Fez and Kelso.

_**Yes, Thanksgiving is a time when those close get even closer…**_

Down in the basement while the rest of the gang is sitting down on the couch and chairs, Jackie and Hyde are standing up. Hyde has his arm around her shoulder and Jackie as her arms around his waist; they share a smile before exchanging a quick, loving kiss.

_**But this year, things may be a tad bit different…**_

"Oh for heaven's sake, how many times do I have to hit you for you to die, Dumbass?" Kitty asks irritably.

She is seen standing in the middle of the living room, her eyes glued to the TV screen and her hands glued to the game controller. Her six older grandchildren—three girls and three boys—are seated on the couch slightly surprised by the outburst but more into watching Kitty continue to play their video game.

_**There'll be lots of laughs…**_

Fez and Kelso are seen in the basement; Fez is sitting with a pen and notepad in his hands as Kelso paces around the room, his hand under his chin to show how deep in thought he is.

"We need a good name…a good turkey name…" Kelso says out loud and Fez nods as he starts to think, "A good turkey American name…"

"I got it!" Fez shouts happily, "Pablo Juan Francisco Hernandez the Turkey!"

Kelso stares back at his foreign friend, who is smiling brightly, with a blank expression on his face.

"Fez…that is _brilliant!_" he shouts, letting his own smile appear, "Write it down, write it down!"

_**A few tears…**_

In the kitchen Jackie is seen wearing one of Kitty's aprons—her hair is a mess, she looks very tried and close to tears. Hyde is standing in front of her, trying to listen to what she's saying while still taking in the scene of the chaotic looking kitchen.

The noises coming out of Jackie's mouth are more like squeaking high pitched sounds that sounds nothing like any kind of words.

Jackie continues on for a few more seconds before dropping her head onto Hyde's chest.

"Uh, it's ok Jacks." He says sounding a bit awkward as he wraps his arms around her and then looks around the room again "I think…"

_**And you'll never guess who the surprise dinner guest is…**_

The gang—except for Jackie—is sitting in the basement, each of them with their own shocked expression as they stare at the basement door and the person who has just entered through it.

"Who is that?" Brooke whispers to Donna who is sitting next to her on the couch.

Donna shakes her head, "You don't wanna know."

* * *

"Oh my God." Laurie says as she frowns and stares at the dinner guest, "I have that same top in blue!"

Fez quickly swinging his head to the blonde and smiles largely as his best friend beside him smiles and nods approvingly.

* * *

Donna and Jackie are talking in the messy kitchen, suddenly Jackie stops smiling and an angry, ready to fight snarl appears on her face.

"Oh she is _going down_." She announces with a shake of her head before pushing open the kitchen door.

_~.~_

Red is seen walking in from the sliding door in the kitchen with an angry scowl on his face and a large paper bag in his hands. Fez and Kelso are sitting the basement glaring at each other until finally Fez leaps off the couch and rings his hand around Kelso's neck and sending them both to the floor.

Brooke and Laurie watch the scene from close by—Laurie looks annoyed while Brooke looks more concerned.

"Ugh, Daddy's right. They are dumbasses." She says out loud before taking a sip of her wine.

_~.~_

In the kitchen the uncooked turkey is in front of Jackie while she sticks two wooden spoons inside the bird as if she were trying to retrieve something from inside. Kitty is seen standing in the living room, still playing the video game while the kids around her look very bored.

"Kitty, I've got the perfect Christmas gift for the dumbasses this year." Red tells his wife as they sit on the living room couch both looking exhausted.

Kitty turns her head towards him, ready to hear his idea.

"Let's just give them the house. They're here all the time anyways. And then you and me can move somewhere else and never give them our new address." He says seriously and almost excitedly, "It works out for everyone."

_~.~_

Jackie, Hyde, Donna, and Eric are standing in the kitchen until suddenly Eric jumps behind Donna and grabs a turkey baster—using it as a sword—trying to protect himself from Jackie. Hyde is seen ducking his head down just seconds before a glass cup is thrown against the wall near the swinging door in the kitchen.

Eric sighed contently as he sits on the couch, "It's just like what the pilgrims and Indians did on the first thanksgiving."

_**Thanksgiving 1990 is going to be a thanksgiving no one will forget…**_

"At the rate you're going when it comes time to say the things your thankful for," Red began to say never moving his eyes away from the game on TV, "Not having my foot up your ass, isn't going to be one of them."

**Coming November 4, 2010 **

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_**Author's Note: **So what do you think? Hope it's sounds interesting and that you'll be back November 4th for Chapter one!_

_Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you soon!_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know, stay tuned, see you next time, take care and have a nice day!_


	2. Yams

_**Disclaimer: **__I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **__Hello all! I am soo so very sorry for not updating with the first chapter of this story on the fourth. That has never happened before—me missing the opening date that is—but I do have a pretty good excuse sorta. See I got a little case of the blues these last few days after almost being in/starting a car crash (btw I didn't even feel like driving and was pretty much forced into it) I'm doing better now, was just pretty shell shocked and felt no motivation to write whatsoever. I'm feeling better now and so hopefully I can get thing back on track this weekend. I still haven't worked out the bugs on how I'm going to be updating, but if you go to my profile and scroll down you'll find a couple of idea. I will alert you when I have come up with the final plans. Anywoo thank you all so much for all the reviews I'm so excited that you all are excited and I am soo very sorry for not updating on the fourth. Please forgive me! Oh and this chapter is kinda long, some chapters will be long some will be short, but it hink they all may be around this range. Anywoo you've wait long enough. Sorry about that one again! Enjoy!_

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It was only a few minutes past noon but already the Forman kitchen was filled with the delicious aromas of Thanksgiving.

Kitty Forman happily hummed an old Sinatra tune as she fluttered around the room stopping at the refrigerator to get one of the most important pieces to the nights up coming dinner.

It took quite a few minutes and she'd stopped her humming for a bit as she gave a small struggle when pulling out the uncooked turkey from it's place on the refrigerator shelf and onto the nearby counter top.

This year's turkey was a full twenty-five pounds, each year they seemed to get heavier and heavier. Not that Kitty minded at all. To her it was just a wonderful little reminder of how her little family had grown into a much bigger but still loving, close, and mismatched family. This year everyone was coming, her eight babies and her eight grandbabies. It was going to be a very full house tonight and Kitty couldn't wait for all of them to get there.

Picking up where she left off with her humming of _Dancing Cheek to Cheek_, Kitty walked back over to the counter space near the stove where a pile of ingredients for her Special Yams were waiting.

Just then the swinging door was pushed open and a familiar grunt was heard.

"Geeze Kitty…explain to me again why we have to do this at our house." Red said as his eyes looked around the kitchen.

The room was full of food! Cooked and prepared food, uncooked food, food being cooked. There was so much of it and it made Red's frown deepen.

It wasn't that he didn't like the holiday because he did. Watch football and eat turkey, what wasn't there to like? And it wasn't because he didn't want his wife cooking so much; after all it made her happy and as long as she was happy so was he. What caused his scowl was the message behind all of the food. The guest that would all be arriving. The dumbasses and their minions. The thoughts alone were giving him a headache.

Kitty gave a small laugh, "Oh Red, you know it's a tradition to have all the holiday meals at our house."

"Holiday meals?" her husband repeated, "Kitty, we have all the everyday meals at our house. _Everyday_."

Turning away from the yams and other ingredients Kitty sent a quick frown over to her husband, "Now you know it is not everyday, Red Forman. The kids are all so busy now. They've got their own houses now, their jobs, their kids…we hardly ever see them anymore."

Red's frown deepened, was his wife living in the same house he was?

"Kitty, we see at least one of them and their families once a week for a meal. I swear they've come up with some sort of schedule and then rotate with who gets to come on what days and for what meals."

"I meant together, all of them here at the same time." She informed, "That barely happens anymore."

"Thank God for that." Red mumbled but not low enough because Kitty had heard his words and gave him an angry glare in response, "I'm not taking that one back, Kitty. I'd rather have one family come in each day than have them all here at the same time. Every time that happens it's like there's one more person that just pops out of nowhere."

Kitty giggled at her husband's words, "Alright Mr. Grumpy-pants, I think I know something that'll turn your frown upside down."

"What?" he asked his brows still wrinkled together.

"I'm making a big batch of your favorite thanksgiving food." She sing-songed happily.

Almost instantly the scowl on Red's face disappeared and was replaced with a growing smirk. He knew exactly what she was talking about but still decided to ask.

"Your Special Yams?"

"That's right." She replied with a bright smile that caused Red's own smirk to turn into a smile.

Red slowly snaked his right arm around his wife's waist, "The number three reason for why I married you."

Giggling another girlish giggle at Red's words, Kitty reached up and placed a quick but loving kiss on his lips. Responding to the kiss, Red looked down at his wife and raised both his eyebrows, his smirk turning into a more mischievous one.

"And the number two reason why I married you." He added.

Kitty giggled again and then felt Red's other arm wrap around her, pulling her into another—but longer—kiss.

Being caught up in their kiss neither one of the two heard the glass side door slide open and their visitors step inside. But as soon as one of their guests saw what they were doing, they made a statement that let the elder couple know they were no long alone.

"Oh God!" a man's voice shouted, "Donna cover your eyes, I've got Luke's!"

Red and Kitty pulled out of their embrace and looked over to their right to see his son and his family. Eric stood covering his eyes and look of terror with his right hand while using his left hand to cover his eight year old son's own eyes. Meanwhile Donna—back to her red hair but in a shorter just above the shoulders cut—stood beside them both laughing at Eric's reaction to seeing his parents sharing a kiss.

Donna and Eric had now been married for nine years. When Eric came home for New Years back in '79, he was back to stay. He and Donna stayed in Point Place and attended the community college for their first year of college until Eric had earned enough money to go to Madison. The year they left Point Place the two wed after a short engagement—in Point Place at Bob and Kitty's pleas. They spent the next three years in Madison, living on their own an din their own apartment.

Their last two years of college were the hardest, mostly because Donna was pregnant. And even up to last few months of her pregnancy with their, she went to school. Luckily Luke was born in the summer and the couple was able to travel to Point Place so they could get the help in last few weeks from their family. After Luke was born they returned to Madison and began to juggle the tasks of parenthood, marriage and school. But they made it through and both graduated in 1984. Now Eric was a fifth grade teacher and Donna worked and wrote for the local newspaper.

"Oh Eric," Kitty said looking over at her son and tilting her head just slightly, "uncover those two beautiful pairs of green eyes."

Gradually Eric did as his mother told him, first uncovering his own eyes and the removing his hand from his son's face revealing the same green yes Luke had inherited from his father.

Seeing his parents' arms still around each other caused Eric to frown and he held back the urge to cover his eyes again. He looked down at his young son who really didn't seem to notice his grandparents at all—his attention was on the game system he held in his arms—still, Eric looked over at his wife who seemed find the whole situation very amusing.

"Yeah, we better start saving up for the therapy now." He said referring to the young boy standing between them.

"We can come back in a little while..." Donna started to suggest to her in-laws after laughing at Eric's comment.

Both Red and Kitty had different responses. Kitty was ready to protest against her daughter-in-law's words, while they seemed to brighten Red's day and he was able to speak before his wife could.

Lifting up his left hand while keeping his right on his wife, he seemed to smile and wave at the trio, "Bye!"

"Red." Kitty warned and pulled out of her husband's arms before going over to little family. "Where are my Thanksgiving hugs?" she asked them already opening her arms, ready for a hug.

A smile soon sprung onto Eric face as he walked over to his mother and enveloped her in a hug.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Mom." He said giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and then pulling out of the hug to take off his jacket.

As soon as Eric was out of the embrace Luke came over to his grandparents, his coat now off but his Nintendo still in his arms. He gave his grandma a quick one armed hug and then did the same to Red.

"Happy Thanksgiving Grandma, Happy Thanksgiving Grandpa." He said aloud with a smile and then lifted the game system, "I'm gonna go hook this up in the basement. Call me when dinner's ready."

With that said Luke left to the basement leaving before any of the adults could say anything. Three of those adults frowned as the small figure descended down the wooden stairs while one of them let a smirk appear on their face.

"That one doesn't say much and stays to himself." Red said as his smirk remained in place and he pointed in the direction that his grandson had disappeared in, "I like him."

Where as the women brushed off the older man's comment and went on to greeting the other, Eric looked at his father with a 'heartfelt' look in his eyes.

"Aw and I love you too, Dad." He said placing his hand on his chest.

Those few words were enough to make Red's small smirk be replaced by a deep annoyed scowl.

"What are you doing here so early anyway?"

"Early?" Eric repeated, "No. Mom said to be here a little after noon. It's a little after noon now…."

"No, it's _way too_ _little after_ noon." Red was quick to interject, "You live right next door. What was your big rush to get here? Wanted to beat the holiday traffic that builds up out in the driveway?"

Eric gave a mock smile and took a step closer to where his father was standing, "Actually Dad, I think it was because we just couldn't wait to be part of that loving atmosphere that you always fill the room with."

The young man then proceeded to warmly drape his arm around his father's shoulder and continue to smile his un-genuine smile. His sons' actions caused Red's frown to deepen, he quickly and gruffly pulled away from the boy.

"Stop being weird." He told his son with his brows now knitted even closer together, "I'm going back to the game, Kitty."

"Alright, honey." Kitty waved her husband off, ready to go back to her cooking.

Eric moved his attention away from his father and over to his mother, who he could tell by just the ingredients, was working on her Special Yams.

"Hey Mom you need any help?" he questioned, "I could help melt some butter, maybe sauté some vegetables…Oo I could make my famous mash potatoes!"

Hearing Eric's words, made Red stop dead in his tracks just before entering into the living room. He didn't want his son helping melt butter or sauté anything…heck he didn't even want him to know what the word meant. And he especially didn't want him making his famous mash potatoes. He'd tasted them before; and while they wee famously remembered, they weren't famous for any good reasons.

Red turned back around and walked over to where his wife and son were standing. Before Kitty could answer, he clasped is hands over Eric's shoulders and sent a smile to his wife.

"Sorry Kitty, the boy's coming with me to watch the game." He informed and then began to push his son towards the swinging door.

"Yeah ok. That sounds like fun. What game is it again?" he asked and not a second later felt a very tight squeeze on both his shoulder, so tight it almost made him drop to his knees, "It was a joke!"

Once the men had gone into the next room Donna stood up from her seat and walked over to her mother-in-law.

"You know Kitty since Eric's watching the game now, I could help you out if you want."

"Oh well isn't that nice of you , Donna. Oh um ok. You can um…" Kitty started to look around the kitchen—there were plenty of things that needed to be done but they weren't easy tasks and she wasn't sure Donna could handle them. And this was Thanksgiving Dinner. Everything had to be perfect.

Still looking around the room in search of something the woman standing next to her could help with, Kitty released a nervous laugh. "I know there's got to be something here…um…"

"I have an idea. If you don't mind." Donna suggested as she walked over to the kitchen table where she'd placed a brown paper bag when she and her family had first walked in. "I could open this up."

Kitty watched as her daughter-in-law reached into the bag and pulled out a brand new bottle of wine.

"Oh." Kitty said, her smile growing, "I knew I always like you."

0o0o0o

The kitchen was filled with a comfortable silence as the two women continued with their tasks, keeping their glass of wine close to them. Kitty was busy putting the last touches on her Special Yams and Donna remained sitting at the kitchen table folding the cloth napkins that would be used later tonight. Kitty had thought it was a perfect task for the young woman; after all it gave her something to do and it dealt nothing with having to mess with any of the food.

The calm mood of the room was soon brought to an end when the swinging door in the kitchen swung open and an irritated, skinny, twitchy man walked in.

"That man…" Eric began to say, waving his index finger towards the living room that Red was still in, "Is…is…is…he's evil! _Pure evil_!"

"Oh honey, your father is not evil." Kitty argued never looking away from the food and never putting down her wineglass, "He's just evil with you." She added before letting out one of her Kitty Forman laughs.

The statement said by his mother caused Eric to frown and he looked over at his wife. He didn't need to say anything, just the look he gave Donna told her everything he wanted to know.

She gave a small laugh before lifting up the wine bottle for him to see that there was more than half of the beverage missing.

Eric's wide eyes traveled from the bottle to his watch, "Huh, we haven't even been here an hour and already you've gotten my mom drunk and I got Dad to threaten to put his foot up my ass." He paused, "That's gotta be some kind of new record."

Donna gave a laugh as she agreed with her husband, "Yeah, I've only had one glass. Your mom's already on number three."

"Four." Kitty said from behind Eric.

"Um…no Kitty I think that's your third glass." Donna stated with a frown.

"Oh, you know I think you might be right." Kitty replied looking at her glass that still had quite a bit of wine in it; then suddenly she moved the glass to her lips and started drinking and not stopping until the glass was empty.

Once the glass was empty Kitty pulled it away and released a giggle as she held it out towards Donna, "And now I'm ready for my fourth glass." She said before laughing again.

Deciding it would be best if Kitty didn't get so drunk so soon into the day—who knew what could happen to the dinner then—Donna kept the wine bottle close to her and changed the subject to what Eric had come in talking about just minutes ago.

"What happened with Red now?" she asked as Eric took a seat next to her.

"Well everything started off pretty good." He began to explain, "Red was watching the game, I was pretending to watch the game. And whatever he said, I just agreed with him."

"So then why did he yell at you?" she questioned with a confused frown.

"Because I cheered."

"Like a cheerleader?" Donna asked, still not understanding.

"No." he shook his head, "I just…cheered…at the wrong time."

Donna's brows continued to knit closer and closer together, "What do you mean?"

"Means he probably cheered when Red's team got a penalty." A new voice commented as the person walked inside.

The couple turned their heads towards the door to see Steven Hyde walk into the warm kitchen with his mischievous smirk on his face, happy to have walked into the room with a pretty good burn.

"_No_." Eric argued while glaring at his adopted brother, "I cheered when everyone on the TV was cheering. But apparently Red's not going for the home team."

While Hyde shook his head and dismissed Eric's words as something only Eric would do, Donna looked at her husband with a disbelief expression on her face.

"You cheered for the wrong team?" she asked.

"Not only did I cheer for the wrong team." Eric started to say, "I cheered for the wrong team when they got a touchdown."

Donna felt the urge to laugh right out loud, "Oh my God, Eric…"

"I know." Jackie said as she walked in from the side door, "I didn't think he knew what a touchdown was either."

Eric's head followed Jackie as she stepped closer to Hyde; once she was close enough Hyde wrapped an arm around her petite shoulders and held her near.

Hyde and Jackie had gotten married in 1981. It had taken them half of 1980 to get past the whole stripper slash motel with Kelso and the other half was spent making up for the time they'd lost to those events. Planning the wedding took up almost the entire year of 1981. Hyde proposed in February and they didn't marry till December. A year later Jackie was pregnant and expecting twins. Four years after the twins were born the couple received another bundle of joy.

With their three children—two girls and one boy—Jackie and Hyde lived only a few houses away from Red and Kitty. Hyde was still managing Grooves while Jackie became a reporter for the local news. Though she'd never imagined herself in a journalism kind of job, she loved it. She loved getting the details, being infront of the camera, and with Donna working with the paper it meant the two girls were sometimes able to work together.

"Hey I know what a touchdown is." Eric argued, "I learned about it today!"

Hyde ignored Eric outburst and unwrapped himself from his wife to greet his surrogate mother.

"Smells good, Mom." He said giving the older woman a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Well thank you, Steven." Kitty said with a smile before receiving another hug from Jackie this time.

"Yeah, Kitty." Jackie agreed, "Happy Thanksgiving."

"And Happy Thanksgiving to you too Jackie." Kitty replied while returning the hug before pulling away, "Now where are my grandbabies?"

"Oh I'm sure they'll be right in." Jackie answered looking out into the drive in search of her children, "They were right behind me…"

"Yeah, I wouldn't hold your breath." Hyde spoke up smirking ever so lightly, "I saw them headed to the basement, it's gonna be a good while before we see them again."

While Jackie and Kitty frowned at Hyde's statement, Donna and Eric found themselves laughing and nodding along to it.

"Yeah, Luke brought over his Nintendo." She informed the couple, "We'll be lucky if we see them for dinner."

"Dinner?" Eric asked, "Donna, we'll be lucky if we see them any time from now to Christmas."

Eric, Donna, and Hyde shared a good chuckle at Eric's words and how true they could be. Meanwhile neither Jackie nor Kitty looked very amused.

"I don't think that's very funny." Kitty stated crossing her arms over her chest.

The laughter from the trio suddenly died down.

"I don't either." Jackie agreed and then turned to Kitty, "And don't worry, I'm going to go down to the basement and get all three of them to come up here and spend some time with you and Red."

Kitty smiled, "Well thank you, Jackie."

"Think it's more Good Luck Jackie." Hyde mumbled just loud enough for Donna and Eric to hear.

"Jackie, I can understand you bring them to see Mom, but Red…" Eric started to drift off as if searching for the right words, "Unless you want your kids traumatized in some sort of way, I'd keep them steer clear away from him."

The brunette shook her head, "Eric, don't be ridiculous. Your dad loves my kids. Everybody loves mine and Steven's kids. Especially your parents. It makes perfect sense too. I mean I'm Red's favorite and Steven's your mom's favorite, you add the two of us together and…well our kids are the Golden Grandkids."

A frown soon appeared on Eric's forehead, "What? No that's not true. Right Mom?" he asked looking at his mother who had gone back to busying herself with a fresh batch of cookies she'd start putting on a plate, "You and Dad love all of us and all the grandkids equally…there's no favorites…right?"

Kitty gave out a nervous Kitty laugh as she walked closer to the group with a plate of the snickerdoodle cookies, "Oh Eric's don't be silly." She laughed again, "Now who wants a cookie?"

Noting how his mother quickly dismissed the question without answering it, Eric's face fell while his adopted brother smirked smugly and happily took a cookie from the plate.

0o0o0o

Another half hour later the three women found themselves alone in the kitchen. Just a few minutes after having arrived, Hyde had practically forced Eric back into the living room with him. He'd said it would be good if they sat down and spent some time with Red, but Eric knew Hyde's real motive. He wanted to see Eric get in trouble and be yelled at. Still Eric was in the living room with the two men and had been in there for a good while.

After making some coffee for Kitty, hoping to get her out of her buzzed mode, Donna and Jackie sat at the table looking through one of the magazines. Kitty meanwhile remained moving around in the kitchen, checking on various items.

All of a sudden, the sliding door slid opened and a familiar foreign man stepped inside with a little boy, who looked like the mirror—but younger—image of the man, in his arms. They entered the family friendly kitchen walking closer to where Kitty was standing singing a song to the tune of the children's song 'Where is Thumbkin?"

"_We love Turkey, we love turkey, yes we do, yes we do_." Together they sang, Fez sounding louder than the little boy, "_Goes inside the tummy, yummy yummy yummy! Turkey for me, turkey for you_!" they ended the song pointing at Kitty.

Thrilled by the little song, Kitty laughed and clapped her hand excitedly, "Oh that was just adorable!"

"Ugh, Mother don't applaud them." Laurie said as she made way into the kitchen and soon helped her seven year old daughter out of her coat.

"Yeah," the young girl who looked very much like her mother but had her father's dark hair, "It only encourages them."

Laurie and Fez had gotten married…well back in 1978, when she married him so he could stay in the country. They had never officially gotten divorced. 1980 was when Laurie returned from Canada or wherever she had disappeared to—no one was still quite sure—and had only been home a week before she and Fez woke up in bed together. Of course Red had been furious and it didn't help when they informed him they were still married, but ever so slowly he started warming up to the idea. He saw that his daughter was happy and in love…even if it was with a foreigner, and the foreigner loved her just as much and was there for her when she need him.

They lived with Red and Kitty for the first two year of the 'renewed marriage' but as soon as they moved into their apartment in 1983 Laurie became pregnant with their daughter Amanda Ruth Forman—Fez's last name didn't fit on the birth certificate. When Amanda was three, Laurie became pregnant again, this time with a boy. Richard David Forman, who Fez nicknamed 'Little Ricky' from one of his favorite TV shows. Fez and Laurie owned a small little salon where Fez washed, cut, and styled hair, and Laurie did the nails and occasionally a hair-do.

They lived farther from her parents than Eric and Hyde's families but were still in the same subdivision.

"Well I thought the song was just lovely." Kitty said to the two smiling faces.

Fez lifted his five year old son up a little closer to his grandmother, "What do we say, 'Little Ricky?'"

"Thank you, Grandma!" Ricky said with a large smile.

Kitty returned the smile as she giggled once more before handing her grandson a cookie and then pinching his little cheek. Seeing his son be rewarded with a cookie, caused a light bulb to go off in Fez's head.

With an even brighter smile, Fez repeated what his son had just said, "Thank you , Grandma!"

Again Kitty laughed at the foreigner's antics before giving him what he wanted. Fez happily took the snickerdoodle and began to munch on the sweet, delicious snack.

"It is a pretty cute song, Laurie." Donna said to her sister-in-law.

"Yeah, I thought the same thing when we first heard Ricky sing it in his school play." The blonde began to explain the story behind the song, "Then Fez started singing it at every waking moment of everyday since then till now."

Amanda looked to her mother, how was now sitting in one of the green chairs "Mommy, can Daddy not come to any more of our school plays?"

"Good idea, baby." Laurie nodded running her hand through her daughters long hair and then looking at the two women sitting next there, "Where're your kids?"

"Down in the basement." Jackie informed.

Donna nodded, "Luke brought his game so they're all playing now."

Laurie looked over at Amanda and then at her son who she'd now noticed had been placed on his feet. "Mandy, why don't you go down there with your cousins?"

"Okay." The little girl agreed not having to be told twice and already heading to the old hangout.

"Take your brother."

Amanda stopped at her mother's words and turned back around a slight snarl, that was very similar to Laurie's, on her face. "Do I have to?"

Fez nodded and answered for his wife, "Yes, you do."

"Fine. Come on twerp." She mumbled and headed for the basement once again.

Little Ricky reached out to hold his big sister's hand but the girl quickly pulled it away before he could get the chance.

"Ew, don't touch me!" she cried, "Here walk infront of me."

The adults then watched as Amanda gave her brother a slight shove forward so she could put her hand on his shoulder; being able to guide him but not letting the little boy touch her.

Kitty shook her head as she fought back a smile while watching the scene; it reminded her so much of her own children when they were younger.

"It's like stepping into a time machine." She said aloud.

"So if the kids are in the basement and you lovely ladies are in the kitchen, where are the men?" Fez asked, finishing his cookie.

Jackie looked at her old friend, "They're in the living room watching the game." She paused for a second or too, "Oh and Eric's in there too."

Fez nodded his head approvingly at the burn while Donna shook her head. Jackie and Laurie shared a laugh before high-fiveing the other.

"Good one." Laurie praised with a smile.

However Kitty did not find any part of the conversation funny at all.

"Lauren Ann Forman." She said firmly, "Get over here and start peeling these potatoes."

Immediately Laurie pouted, "But Mommy, Jackie was the one who said it not me."

"It doesn't matter." Kitty said shaking her head, "And besides, Jackie already tried peeling the potatoes and…well…"

Not being able to come up with the right words to describe it, Kitty reached over and pulled up a very small, thin piece of potato that had been the finished product Jackie had come up with when she tried her hand at peeling the vegetables. A bustle of laughter erupted in the room and Jackie crossed her arms while Laurie stood up to help her mother.

"That would make a really good French fry though!" she protested, as if it would help defend her.

"Well ladies, while you stay in here and talk about…" Fez struggled for a few seconds, "Lady things…I am going to go spend some Manly Man Time with my father and two brothers."

The naïve foreigner pushed open the swinging door and stepped into the other side.

He hadn't been the room five seconds before a muffled sound—most probably coming form Red—was heard and the swinging door was pushed back open as Fez practically ran into the kitchen.

"Never mind." He quickly said as he gripped onto the doorway with both his hands, blocking the door from opening with his body.

0o0o0o

It wasn't too long before the next guest arrived and just like the ones before him, he didn't knock before entering.

Instead Kelso just ran into the kitchen like a blur, he swiftly grabbed Jackie and began to twirl her around in the air for a few seconds. Then went to Laurie, Donna, and then Kitty repeating the action with each one of them.

"Man you girls keep getting prettier and prettier!" he announced after putting Kitty back on her feet, "It feels like I haven't seen you guys in forever!"

Donna frowned slightly at his words, "Kelso we were all together at Jackie and Hyde's this last Friday."

"Yeah, and it _feels_ like forever Donna!" Kelso replied, earning him eye rolls from the women excluding Kitty.

"Oh I know what you mean, Michael." Kitty said putting her hand on his arm, "We just don't see each other as much as we use to."

Kelso nodded and grinned goofishly, "See Mrs. Forman, that's why you and me make such a good couple."

Not know what to say to that Kitty frowned for a few seconds before laughing awkwardly at what he's just said.

"Michael where's Brooke?" Laurie asked while still peeling the potatoes by the sink.

"Yeah, did you forget her again?" Jackie questioned teasingly.

Kelso frowned just slightly at her ex-girlfriend, "Yeah right, like I'd do that three years in a row Jackie."

Just then the last of the expected guests entered through the side door that had been left open. Brooke followed by twelve year old Betsy and a young boy who looked like the seven year old version of Michael Kelso.

"Hi everyone." Brooke greeted a she walked into the room, "Happy Thanksgiving."

Brooke and Kelso were another couple that married in 1981. They were still living in Chicago and married in the city—but were sure to invite the Point Place gang to the wedding. In 1983 Kelso took a transfer to Point Place. He worked with the security at the mall, or as his friends liked to call him a Mall Cop. After the move Brooke stayed at home taking care of Betsy and planned on returning to work at the Public Library she use to work at; however the same month she planned on returning she found out she was expecting.

Nine months later she gave birth to Michael Kelso Junior—also called 'Mikey.' Brooke stayed at home for a few more years while Kelso continued to work at the mall. He loved his job, messing with the different TV screens, walking around the mall and getting free pretzels, and while he didn't get to carry a gun, he did get to use a walkie-talkie. When Mikey was four years old and off to preschool, Brooke at last went back to her job as a librarian—this time working at the kids' elementary school. The same school Eric worked at. The couple and their children now lived across the street from Fez and Laurie.

"Oh Brooke, thank God you're here." Laurie said putting down a potato and grabbing her friends arm and yanking her over, "Here help me peel these potatoes. It's like there's no end to this pile."

"Laurie, Brooke is a guest." Kitty reminded her daughter.

The blonde nodded, "I know. But she's also my friend and she wants to help me. Right Brooke?" she asked looking at the taller woman.

"Sure." She nodded, smiling at Kitty, "It's really no problem. I don't mind helping."

Kitty gave a silent 'thank you' smile to Brooke before turning to the two young children in her kitchen, "My, don't you two just look so beautiful and handsome."

"Course they do, Mrs. Forman." Kelso said with a grin as he heard the conversation and wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulder, "Look who their parents are."

"Thank you, Grandma Kitty." Betsy said smiling, remembering her manner, "You look very pretty too."

Kitty smiled and giggled at the compliment, "Oh well, aren't you just the sweetest?"

Betsy returned the smile, but when she noticed that her younger brother had yet to say anything she gave him a slight nudge—breaking him from his daze.

"Oh yeah." He nodded, right away knowing what the shove was for, "You look great Grandma Kitty…Do you have a blanket or sheet I could borrow?"

A common frown made its way onto each of the adults' foreheads as they heard the seven year old little boy's words.

"Are you cold?" Kitty asked, wondering—just like everyone else—what kind of ideas were stirring up in the youngest Kelso's head.

Mikey rapidly shook his head, "Nope. I wanna climb on the roof and use it a parachute!" he finished with his father's grin on his face.

Jackie saw Brooke's eyes widen from the corner of her own eyes—and as a mother herself she could feel Brooke's worry. So she decided to speak up and give the little boy a distraction. If he was anything like his father—and he really was—it wouldn't be too hard.

"Um Mikey, Betsy." She said to the kids, "Why don't you guys go down to the basement? All the other kids are down there playing with Luke's Nintendo…"

Before Jackie could finish her sentence Little Kelso Jr. was already down in the basement and his older sister wasn't too far behind him. What did surprise Jackie along with the other women in the room was that Kelso had stayed in the room and not led his children down to the game system.

Brooke sent a smile to Jackie, "Thanks Jackie."

"No problem." The brunette said with a wave of her hand, "I don't know how you do it, he's a total mini Michael!"

Donna nodded in agreement, "You're an amazing woman."

"Yeah, kids can say the darndest things." Kelso said with a nod as he crossed his arms over his chest, "I mean come on a sheet as a parachute? I totally thought of that last week!"

"Like I said before, you're an amazing woman." Donna repeated to Brooke.

Kelso's eyebrows knitted together with confusion as the women in the room shared a laugh. He soon just shrugged it off thinking maybe it was just a girl thing like shoes, make up, and hygiene.

The sudden sound of quick footsteps caught Kelso's attention and he quickly shot his head up just in time to see his foreign friend appear in the doorway of the basement. Fez still hadn't seen Kelso and continued to move his head back and forth in search of his man-pretty friend.

"Where is he?" he asked quickly "I know he is here…Where is he? I…" he suddenly stopped his questioning when he eyes landed on his friend.

Large grins soon appeared on both of the men's face and they just about ran into each other's arms, when a thought entered Fez's mind and he eyed Kelso suspiciously.

"Did you already do the twirling?"

Kelso, not able to look his friend in the eyes, looked down at his feet, "Yes."

"You _sonofabitch_!" Fez muttered as he glared at him.

"But wait!" Kelso exclaimed, suddenly coming up with an idea, "I can do it again! Watch!"

The next thing anyone in the room knew, Kelso was running over to Fez and scooping him up into his arms. He gave his foreign friend a tight hug that was similar to the ones he'd given the women only a few minutes ago. Except maybe faster spinning.

"Wee!" Fez exclaimed until Kelso stopped spinning him and placed him back on his feet.

But even once the spinning hug came to an end and Fez had been safely placed on the ground, the two men last about five seconds before throwing their arms around the other in another hug.

"Oh Kelso, my friend!" Fez said happily, "How I have missed you!"

Kelso hugged his friend back, "Me too, man. It's been a long time since I've seen you!"

Watching the scene form the sidelines caused Laurie to frown and shake her head, "You morons spent the whole day together on Tuesday."

"So?" Fez asked not seeing his wife's point.

"Yeah, Laurie. That's like a whole forty-eight hours we haven't seen each other!"

Laurie only rolled here eyes at Kelso statement and then went back to peeling the endless potatoes; just as the two men—now out of their embrace—continued with their greetings.

"So Kelso, what kind of shenanigans are we going to get into this Thanksgiving?" Fez asked excitedly.

"Oh there's a lot of them Fez." Kelso assured with a pat on the back, "But first…" he turned to Kitty, "Mrs. Forman do you have a blanket or sheet we can borrow?"

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__There you go, Chapter 1 of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" Hope you liked!_

_And yes, the chapter names are going to be names of different food eaten at Thanksgiving time. Think of it as a little menu or grocery list…and sorry if it starts getting you hungry!_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned ,take care, have a nice day, and remember only 19 more days till Thanksgiving!_


	3. Chex Mix

_**Disclaimer: **__I own nothing, nothing, nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **__Hello everyone! Long time no see…eh read.. eh see…you get my point! I am soo soo very very very sorry for not updating this fic. I just really kinda tore myself away from the site and concentrated on my school work, crazy I know right, but it was after having a bit of a nervous breakdown that I decided to do it so maybe that's why I decided to do it However I would like to say, besides I'm sorry once more (which I truly am) a big thank you to all you reviewers an di really hope you guys are still excited and ready to read this story. My Vacation for Thanksgiving starts today and I'm almost done with the next chapter so there is a very good chance it'll be up later today. That's another thing, I am planning on updating this pretty fast now that I'm on vacation for the next few days, some may have short chapters some not so short, but I hope you all will stay tuned and will review whenever and as much as you can. It means a lot and I am so thankful for the support you guys! Ok enough rambling, I know you all are excited to get to the chapter so…Enjoy!_

* * *

It was still the early hours into the afternoon as Red continued to sit in his pea soup colored armchair, his eyes fixed frowning at the football game on TV; he paid close to no attention to those sitting on the nearby sofa. Hyde leaned back looking relaxed and almost like he wasn't paying attention to the game—but if asked about anything, he would be able to answer correctly—and Eric, who'd lost interested in the game five minutes after Hyde had forced him back into the room, and was now picking up pieces of Homemade Chex Mix from the nearby by blue bowl on the coffee table.

"Damn it!" Red growled as he watched another one of the players from the visiting team be tackled, "These dumbasses have no idea what they're doing. They're running around on that field like chickens without heads…" he shook his head in disgust, "I swear Eric could do a better job out there."

Hearing the slight complement Eric looked up from his art and smiled at his father, "Thanks Daddy." He said mockingly.

"Shut up." Red replied as he stood up from his seat, "I'm getting another beer. Steven?"

Hyde shook his head at his surrogate father's question, "Nah, I'm still good." He replied lifting his own can of beer just slightly.

"Uh I could use another drink, Dad." Eric called out.

Red stopped himself from taking another step to the kitchen and turned back around to face his son. He was surprised by his words and lifted an eye brow as he got ready to question him.

"What's a fumble?"

Looking on at the scene Hyde held back a laugh but couldn't contain his smirk. Eric seemed to get more and more nervous the longer Red stared him down. It was obvious the younger Forman had no idea what his father was talking about, but he seemed to be so uneasy and frightened he couldn't even come up with a guess or a smartass comment.

Eric cleared his throat, "Actually never mind, I'm good too."

With a roll of his eyes Red turned back around and headed for the kitchen swinging door before disappearing behind it.

"You seriously didn't know what a fumble was man?" Hyde asked as he looked at Eric.

"No." the teacher argued, "I just decided I didn't want another beer."

Hyde smirked, "Yeah, cause you're drinking ginger ale."

Eric frowned in return, "It helps keep me from feeling nauseous!"

Again Hyde shook his head, "What're you doing, Forman?'

"You know, feeling like the oddball out in my parents own house." Eric began to answer, "Trying to get my dad's approval while at the same time dealing with the fact that my mother think's that yours and the devil's kids are the golden grandkids." He paused and shrugged, "Pretty much the usual."

"Yeah." Hyde nodded, "I meant with the snack mix."

Looking slightly embarrassed Eric looked down at the two piles on the table only to smile again when he saw his two creations.

"Oh well I started off trying to make models of the Millennium Falcon and the Death Star…" he started to say, "But it turns out building anything out of pieces of Chex cereal and pieces of pretzels is really hard, so I decided to just build a tower. It's a lot easier."

Eric then proceeded to point at the two muddled 'towers' on the coffee table.

"And of course it's totally a tower for the Millennium Falcon, because really…"

"Yeah, looks like just a pile of snack mix to me." Hyde interrupted causing Eric to frown and look back at his 'model.'

"What?" he asked in his high pitched voice, "No! It's totally…"

Hyde smirked and reached over grabbing one of the small pretzel sticks from one of the towers causing it to collapse into a million pieces.

"It does now." Hyde said before popping the food into his mouth and smirking at Eric's appalled expression.

Still displaying his hurt and dismayed expression Eric reached over for the parts of his fallen tower and began to piece the parts together again, while Hyde smirked contently and leaned back relaxing while watching the latest TV commercial for some cereal. Just then the kitchen's swinging door swung open and two men sulked their way into the living room.

"Man, this sucks!" Kelso announced crossing his arms over his chest like a small child.

"I could not agree more with you, my friend." Fez nodded and patted the taller man's shoulder sympathetically, "This is not at all fair."

Kelso snorted in response, "You can say that again."

"This is not at all fair." Fez repeated, following what he thought was Kelso's order.

A confused frown made its way onto Kelso's face as he looked at his foreign friend as he wondered why he'd repeated himself. At the same time two more puzzled expressions appeared on the two young men who were sitting on the sidelines of the scene on the yellow couch.

Eric was the one who decided to ask the question on both their minds, "What's going on?"

"Yeah, what happened, the women kick you out for making obscene gestures with the turkey?" Hyde guessed with a playful smirk on his lips.

"No!" Kelso argued with a scowl that soon turned into a grin as he pointed at his curly haired friend, "But thanks for the idea!"

Continuing to smirk Hyde nodded his head, knowing he'd never be the one to get in trouble even if Kelso did go through with the idea. Meanwhile Eric shook his head with disgust and Fez looked beyond confused.

"Wait…what kind of gestures?" he asked whining slightly, "I wanna know! What is…Ooohh." He said finally getting thee picture as a smile broke out on his face, "Oh that is dirty."

"Yeah, yeah." Eric said quickly, trying to change the subject as fast as possible—hopefully that way Kelso and Fez would forget the idea, Eric didn't want them doing anything to the thanksgiving turkey. They were all going to have to eat it at some point, "So what's going on in the kitchen?"

"I'll tell you what's going on in the kitchen." Kelso began, sounding upset again while he pointed to the kitchen door, "There are evil women in there!"

Fez nodded affirmatively, "Yes, evil. Very hot and sexy in their own ways, but evil and men in all the others."

Hyde held back a laugh as he watched Eric's face scrunch in disgust at Fez's last statement. Seeing that his brother was in no position to speak, Hyde took over for him.

"You know, normally I'd just ignore you two until you guys tired yourselves out, but seeing Forman face after you talked about his mom and sister…I'm gonna go ahead and encourage you guys this time." He paused letting his smirk grow even more, "So what happened?"

Slowly Eric turned his head to look at Hyde, a strong glare being sent his way, but didn't get the chance to open his mouth.

"They wouldn't give us a sheet!" Fez exclaimed.

The foreigner's words caught both Hyde and Eric's attentions and together they moved their gazes to the standing pair—each of them with their brows knitted closer together.

Kelso threw his hands up in the air in an outrage manner, "Can you believe that?"

Neither Hyde nor Eric moved their eyes or spoke a word until a few seconds passed…but even them their baffled eyes stayed on their two friends.

"Am I the only one who's worried about what they want to do with that sheet?" Eric asked.

"It's not even like they had to be part of it!" Kelso went on to say, before Hyde could respond to Eric's question, "It would still be awesome with just the two of us…but if they wanted to join in…hey the more the merrier!"

Hyde watched Fez eagerly nod in agreement and his mind joined his brother's in the gutter.

"Yeah, not anymore." He informed.

"Um…Fez, Kelso…just what were you guys planning on doing with that sheet?" Eric asked in a cautioned tone of voice before adding, "And if it's got anything to do with sex, please give a fair warning."

Both Fez and Kelso displayed shocked and almost hurt looks on their faces as they heard Eric's stamen. However it was Fez who decided to respond to his brother-in-law's words.

"Do you think all we think about is sex?" Fez questioned while crossing his arms over his chest as an attempt to seem tougher or at least show how upset he was. "We do have other things in our lives that we care about!"

"Yeah! We've got kids, our wives, jobs!" Kelso added, "Sex is like number four on our list."

"Yes." The foreign man argued with a nod, "It is tied with doing stupid things."

Watching the two men nod, Hyde rolled his eyes with annoyance. He looked past the two morons and over at the swinging door, hoping Red would come in and kick both Fez and Kelso out. Still, he was curious about what their plans with the sheet were…

"So what were you guys gonna do with the sheet?" he finally asked, deciding to repeat Eric's question.

Kelso's face lit up like a small child…or just like his own face on Christmas morning. Excitedly with a big dopey grin, he practically bounced into the empty seat between Hyde and the arm of the sofa.

"Ok so get this." He began to say already using his hands to build up his listeners' excitement, "We were gonna climb up on the second floor roof and then jump off! _But_ we were gonna hold onto the sheet while we were jumping and use it as a parachute!"

"Isn't it a genius idea?" Fez asked enthusiastically.

Hyde and Eric's faces fell to the floor, neither one of them was quite sure how to respond.

"Uh I don't…I…it's…" Eric struggled for his words while he looked at the smiling, happy, puppy like faces in front of him, He broke his face out into a grin, "It's something alright!"

"Yeah, something else." Hyde muttered so only he and Eric could hear.

"Yeah, I think it's one of my best ideas yet." Kelso said with a bashful smile, that soon turned into a frown as he recalled what happened only a few minutes ago. "But we can't even do it cause they won't give us a sheet!"

"They are too protective of us." Fez declared and his friend nodded along.

"Yeah. They're making way too big of a deal, my plans only usually end in disaster. I don't get why they won't let us do it this time."

Hyde frowned just slightly, "Kelso man, you just answered your own question."

"No, I didn't." Kelso said, returning the frown.

"Yeah, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Yeah, you did."

"No I didn't!"

"Ok fine." Hyde gave in, holding up his hands in defense, "You didn't."

Kelso smiled proudly at his friend, "Thank you."

"But you did." Hyde added in his Zen manner, "You said your plans usually end in disaster."

"_Yeah._" Kelso replied dragging out the word, "And the last time I checked the dictionary 'usually' meant not all the time."

The words said by the kettlehead of the group caused Eric and Hyde to furrow their brows even more while Fez showed a smile—as if knowing exactly what Kelso was talking about."

"You know how to use a dictionary?' Eric questioned in disbelief.

"You know what a dictionary is?" Hyde asked following Eric's pattern.

"Yes I know what a dictionary is." Kelso argued, obviously hurt by his friends' statements.

Fez nodded before explaining, "We used one last week when we were looking up dirty words."

Eric watched the two grown men share a smile before letting the grins turn into chuckles as they laughed at something that only the two of them knew about. It made Eric roll his eyes, these guys might have other things in their lives that they cared about but they were still the same goofballs from high school. Now he could see why none of the women wanted to give them a sheet…heck he wouldn't even give them a Kleenex in fear that they'd alter their plan so they could work with a smaller parachute.

"You seriously can't see why they don't want you guys to have a sheet?" Eric rhetorically asked.

Fez shook his head, "Nope."

"All I know is that they should totally give us a sheet, cause this plan is completely idiot proof." Kelso was quick to add.

The words caused Hyde to smirk mischievously; he couldn't pass up a chance like this.

"Idiot proof?" the Zen master asked, "Or proof of idiots?"

Not understanding exactly what Hyde was getting at Fez's brows knitted together and he thought over the suggestion for a few seconds before shaking his head to the left and to the right.

"No Hyde…I think it is idiot proof."

Hyde shook his head and leaned back on the sofa as if giving up in defeat—but that wasn't necessarily true, he wasn't getting out of the conversation because he was defeated, it was because he'd lost interest in it. Eric on the other hand still found himself intrigued with the whole situation. After all it was a lot more exciting to him than the football game that was playing on the television screen.

"What's the big deal about doing this parachute sheet thing anyways?" Eric asked a very good question.

Kelso rolled his eyes as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world, "Because it's our Thanksgiving Shenanigan!"

The explanation given by Kelso recaptured Hyde's interest and he found himself caught up in his friends' conversation once again.

"Shenanigan?" Hyde asked, making sure he heard right.

"Yeah, it's a tradition!"

"Yes." Fez chimed in, "Remember for Christmas last year we blew up the snowmen?"

Several images began to play out in Eric and Hyde's minds. Images of the snow, carrot noses, scarves and whatever had been used for eyes and mouths flying everywhere along with the few sparks from the fireworks that had been place inside the snowmen—the same sparks that nearly set the old oak tree in the back yard on fire. The scene of Red chasing the two men with a shovel and all the crying from the kids after the saw their snowfriends be blown to smithereens.

The two brothers looked at one another and exchanged a look.

"Vaguely."

"Well usually we do our shenanigans for Christmas." Kelso went on to say, "But this year we thought we'd mix it up."

Fez smiled as he already knew the details, "But we may do other small shenanigans in the days leading up to Christmas."

"But we're not ninety percent sure yet." Kelso made sure to add.

"We'll let you know." Fez was happy to inform.

Again Hyde was starting to feel himself zone out of the conversation and Eric didn't seem to far behind—still he decided to ask.

"If the women aren't gonna give you the sheet, why don't you guys just think of another stupid 'shenanigan?'"

Both Fez and Kelso looked at Hyde with the strangest looks on their faces. It looked as though Hyde had just asked them if were twins.

Eyes wide with astonishment Fez looked at his curly haired friend in disbelief. He rapidly shook his head still not believe his ears, and then proceeded to through his hands in the air. All he needed to do was break out into a Spanish rant and he'd be Ricky Ricardo.

But while his partner in crime seemed to be at loss for words, Kelso knew just what he wanted to say.

"Another shenanigan?" he asked his own eyes opened largely, "We can't just think another shenanigan at the last minute! It takes time, good, careful thinking…coming up with a stupid shenanigan is not as easy as you think Hyde!"

Not believing the tall man's argument, Hyde shook his head and settled back into the couch. Eric could deal with this if he wanted to, but he himself was out.

And that's just what Eric did,

"So then don't do a 'stupid shenanigan' do a…I don't know a useful, helpful one." The school teacher suggested, "Help Mom in the kitchen, look after the kids…I don't know write a thanksgiving book!"

"Yeah, ok Eric." Kelso replied with a scoff and roll of his brown eyes.

"Oh wait!" Fez quickly jumped in with an idea, "We could write a book!"

Kelso's brows knitted together, "Huh?"

The two friends looked at one another for a few seconds—looking as though they were having some sort of telepathic conversation. A minute or so later, they both looked over at Eric each wearing a very large smile.

"Yeah, we're gonna write a book." Kelso informed with a nod.

With an expressionless face, Eric looked at the duo, "Not a dirty book."

"Aww!" was heard not a second later.

"Why don't you guys fry a turkey?" Hyde suggested joining the talk once again, but keeping his eyes on the TV.

Kelso looked at Hyde and snorted, "Yeah, Hyde's like we'd actually be that…Oo wait!" he almost shouted, suddenly getting an idea, "Fry…fye…fwy…fly…Fly! FLY! We should make a turkey fly!" he exclaimed jumping onto his feet.

Fez soon joined in Kelso's excitement and the pair was just about ready to bring out their notepads when Eric spoke up.

"Uh Kelso…" he began, "Turkeys can fly."

"No they can't." Kelso said talking to Eric as if he were dumber than him.

Ignoring Kelso's tone Eric argued, "Yes, they can."

"No, they can't"

"Yes, they can."

"Well can a dead turkey fly?" Kelso suddenly asked, shocking Eric.

"Wha…_what_?"

Fez meanwhile nodded in approval, "Nice one."

"Thanks." Kelso replied returning the smile, before going on to explain, "So all we've gotta do Fez is find a dead turkey and…"

"Kelso man, we're you gonna find a dead turkey?" Hyde questioned

Eric nodded—just as Fez sided with Kelso, Eric seemed to be on Hyde's side—"Hyde's right. It's thanksgiving. All the dead turkeys are in kitchen getting ready to be put in the oven."

There was a sudden moment of silence as both of the childlike men felt themselves deflate like a balloon as their hopes of making a turkey fly started to fade away. Abruptly a light bulb went off in one of the dim heads.

"Like the one Mom's got in the kitchen!" Fez declared, "We could use that one!"

It happened all so quickly Eric and Hyde weren't sure they'd heard correctly. However when their widened eyes saw Kelso grin and praise their foreign friend they knew their ears had told them the truth. This was not good.

"Wait no." Eric said interrupting the planning, "You don't wanna make a turkey fly…Hey you want a sheet? I get you my old Spiderman sheets!"

Fez and Kelso looked on at Eric's twitchiness, but only seemed to blow it off.

"Nah, we're good."

Eric's face fell while Fez and Kelso settled down into their seats, Kelso back on the couch and Fez on the floor by his feet, ready to get on with their planning of their second Thanksgiving shenanigan.

Hyde stared at the straight face of his brother, "Nice going, Forman."

Before Eric could make any response, Fez and Kelso's rambling filled the room.

"Ok, so we know where to get our turkey." Kelso reminded in a serious manner—the way they seemed to planning the whole thing out, it seemed like more than a holiday shenanigan, "We've just gotta figure out how we're gonna make our turkey fly."

An eager nod came from Fez right away, "Right. Let's think. Hmm…" not five seconds later, Fez placed his palm on his head, "Aye this is too hard!"

"Don't worry, buddy. We'll get it." Kelso assured patting his friends back while he himself was having trouble thinking up ideas, "We just need something to help us think…"

"We could watch the parade!" Fez announced happily before reaching over and grabbing the remote of Red's chair.

As Kelso grinned a child like smile and nodded eagerly, Eric frowned not quite seeing how this would help them think of any ideas. And Hyde just sat back watching the scene play out; he knew he should have stopped them, reminded them that Red was watching the game…but this would be a lot more fun.

"Oh I hope we have no missed the Snoopy's balloon." Fez shared as he changed the channel to the annual _Macy's Parade_.

Kelso wrinkled his forehead while scooting closer to the edge of the couch and closer to the TV, "Forget Snoopy, Kermit's balloon could totally kick Snoopy's balloon ass!"

"I said Snoopy, you sonofabitch!" Fez replied with an angry scowl.

"And I said Kermit!" Kelso argued.

Fez continued to glare, "Snoopy is better than Kermit!"

"Nuh-ah!" Kelso fought back, "Kermit has Miss. Piggy!"

"Snoopy has Woodstock!"

"Well Kermit has _The Muppet Show_! Ha!"

"Snoopy has _The Peanuts Comics_! Ha ha!" Fez fired back.

It took Kelso a little longer to think of his next comeback, but when he did he knew this one would win him the argument.

"_It's not that easy being green_." He began to sing.

"_Having to spend each day the color of the leave_," Fez sang, taking over the song and forgetting whose side he was on, "_When I think it could be nicer being Red, or yellow or gold. Or something much more colorful like that!"_

The young foreign man finished the verse and smiled shyly.

"It is a classic." He admitted.

Now that their quarrel was over and done with Kelso and Fez returned to their happy viewing of the different floats making their way down the streets of New York. Hyde joined in in the viewing but not before noticing that Eric hadn't even looked at the television screen since the channel had been switched—not that he'd been paying much attention before—and had his attention back on his destroyed tower.

"Forman, man you're not watching the parade?" Hyde questioned, "I would've thought you'd be all into it like Lavern and Shirley over there."

Eric shook his head, "Nah, I'm kinda boycotting the parade till they add a _Star Wars_ float in there."

"Good luck with that, man." Hyde replied while holding back a laugh.

"Oh I don't need luck Hyde." Eric responded while looking up from his 'art,' "I have petitions."

There were a few minutes that passed while the guys—excluding Eric—sat almost trance like watching the parade with it's floats, balloons, bands, and performers. The scene could have stayed that way until the parade finished, had the swinging door not swung back open.

"What the hell are you doing?" Red angrily asked as he scowled at the scene before him.

Keeping his eyes on the screen and his smile on his face, Fez answered his father-in-law's question, "Watching the parade."

Red held back the urge to roll his eyes as he stepped closer to the two boys he knew were responsible for this.

"I was watching the game." He reminded in his firm tone of voice.

"Yeah," Kelso agreed, "And now we're watching the parade."

Kelso' reply did not sit well with Red and it could easily be seen in his face.

"Kelso, give me the remote." The elder Forman demanded.

"But we are watching the parade!" Fez whined like a small child, that only caused Red's impenitentness to grow.

"Kelso, give me the damn remote now or my foot will be parading it's way up both your asses."

Red's threat frightened the pair, but the remote remained in Kelso's grasp.

"Will there be balloons?" Fez asked in a hopeful voice.

Instead of answering the question Red took an intimidating step forward to the young men scaring the lights out of them. At almost the same time they jumped up from their seat and onto their feet, Kelso making sure to toss the remote to the older man. They then headed for the kitchen door so they could go into the basement from there.

"Big meanie!" Fez called back.

Kelso patted his friends back, "It's alright Fez, now we can figure out how we're gonna make our turkey fly."

Red had ignored Alibaba's comment, dismissing it with a roll of his eyes, but the kettle head's words caught his attention. He looked over at his sons for help but saw one with his attention fixated on snack food and the other only shook his head.

"You don't wanna know." Hyde informed.

And that was good enough for Red. Turning the TV station back to the game he tuned out all his other surroundings. Hyde had plans of doing something similar but first he had a little something to take care of.

Looking over at Eric's Chex Mix tower, he noticed it was almost the same size as it had been when he first knocked it down. With an evil smirk on his lips, he reached over and grabbed another small square causing the thing to crumble once more.

"Oh come on!" Eric nearly shouted, "It's like you're just doing it on purpose now Hyde!"

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__There you go Chapter 2 (At last!) of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" Hope you liked!_

_Yes, I know Chex Mix is not exactly a thanksgiving food but it's usually a little appetizer around here during the holidays and it was the only food besides turkey mentioned in the chapter. _

_So what your favorite part of the Macy's Parade? Kermit? Snoopy?_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, have a nice day and remember only 2 more days till thanksgiving! Hope you've got your shopping done…I haven't oops!_


	4. Mash Potatoes

_**Disclaimer: **__I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **__Hiya Everyone! So sorry for the late update…the really really late update. Turns out the Thanksgiving break not all too productive with my fanfiction writing and reading as I hoped it would be. (PS To my readers who I also read their stories, I will get to reviewing your stories soon! I promise! Just need a wee bit more time!) Hope you had a great one though! Good news is though that despite the fact that Thanksgiving had passed, I am going to continue this story unless you guys think I'm crazy and should wait til next year. There's actually a poll up on my profile but it won't be up long. Um what else…Oh right, my tardiness! I am so deeply sorry for not updating even though the chapter was sitting in my USB but my life just got abit hectic, finals this next week so this week was studying studying and taking one final that I know I bombed. Ugh! But anywoo enough about me, this fic now. First off thanks so much for the reviews! I love them all and you all so much for them! I will reply to them and hopefully any that I get for this chapter soon. And I know you all want to find out who the darn surprise dinner gues is so fear not it will be revealed in either the next chapter or the one after promise! And I apologize for the shorter chapter and my tardiness again. Enough with the talking though, Enjoy!_

* * *

Meanwhile over in the Forman kitchen, the room still buzzed with noises.

The sounds of Donna and Jackie's voiced as they chatted on about one of the articles Donna was considering writing, the sounds of pot lids opening and closing as Kitty checked the various items, the sounds of the smasher hitting the cooked potatoes that Laurie was mashing with an annoyed expression on her face.

Yes, the noises playing in the Forman's avocado kitchen were quite similar to the noises being made in kitchens throughout America at this very time; and it was like music to Kitty's ears.

"Ok, I'm done mashing the dumb potatoes Mom." Laurie informed putting a damper on the 'music' as she used her infamous annoyed tone of voice.

Kitty looked down at the metal bowl that her daughter had practically shoved towards her seconds ago. Her blues eyes widened slightly as she looked at the bowls contents and then at Laurie; her expression showing her panic and slight horror.

"Oh no…no…" Kitty said, shaking her head, "Laurie, honey, these potatoes are supposed to have lumps in them."

The blonde knitted her brows together as she stared at her mother, "What? No they're not. These potatoes are perfect!"

"Yes, honey they are." Kitty replied smiling at how defensive her daughter was about her potatoes, her smile however didn't last long, "But they're supposed to have lumps in them!"

Laurie still didn't understand why her mother was telling her this, "Mother, you were the one who taught me how to make mash potatoes and you told me there should _never_ be any lumps in them…"

Kitty let out a deep breath, as an attempt—a failed attempt—to calm herself, "I know that, you know that, heck I'm sure even the two journalist princesses over there know that!"

Both Donna and Jackie looked over at their mother-in-law as they heard her outburst. Donna furrowed her brow deeply while Jackie's looked similar to her friend's only adding a hint of shock to it. Laurie held back a giggle at their reactions while Kitty took notice of the faces and instantly felt a pang of guilt—a small pang, but a pang.

"Girls, I'm sorry. It's just…" the elder woman turned to her daughter, "Your brother needs lumps in his potatoes."

"Why?" Laurie scoffed while crossing her arms over her chest, "He's already got enough lumps in his head."

While Jackie giggled lightly at the blonde's burn and Kitty rolled her eyes, Donna decided to be the one to defend her husband who wasn't there to defend himself.

"It's true. And Eric can be really picky about how many lumps are in there. There can't be too many and there can't be too little." The redhead stated, "That's why I never make mash potatoes at our house."

"Yeah Donna, that's why." Jackie replied never looking up from the magazine she had opened up a few minutes ago.

Donna glared at the tiny brunette but any comeback she had planned was forgotten as the focus in the room went back to Laurie and Kitty who were back to discussing the lump-less potatoes.

"Mom, you've never made lumpy mash potatoes for thanksgiving." Laurie said out loud, her frown still in place, "I don't think you've ever made a batch of mash potatoes with any lumps."

"Well of course not, your father hates lumps in his potatoes." Kitty shared earning her three perplexed looks that she was quick to notice, "Every year for thanksgiving…or whenever I make mash potatoes I always make two separate batches. One with lumps for Eric and another without lumps for everyone else."

"You mean the normal people." Laurie added smugly.

Kitty sent a warning look towards her before continuing, "I either make one big batch and before I got rid of all the lumps, took some out and set them to the side for Eric. Or made two separate batches right from the start. Either way I made sure everyone was happy with their potatoes."

The three younger women exchanged looks, surprised by just how much Kitty put into making not only her family happy but their thanksgiving meal.

"Can't you still make Eric his potatoes?" Donna questioned.

"How? There aren't any more potatoes left, and there isn't one lump in these mash potatoes!" Kitty exclaimed giving her daughter and daughter-in-laws a deja vu to Menopausal Kitty.

After getting over the small startle an idea entered Jackie's head.

"What if you make up some fake lumps?" she suggested.

Even though all three women knew that Jackie Hyde was no Julia Child, her suggestion still sounded crazy even for her.

"Maybe you could add some peas and corn into the potatoes. You know mix them in there, that way they look like the regular lumps in potatoes but they're not. Lumps are lumps, no one can tell the difference and if they can…" the raven haired beauty shrugged, "Well it's only Eric, so who really cares?"

Donna glared at her friend yet again while Kitty looked a bit upset herself; however Laurie seemed to be on board with the former cheerleader.

"I think that's a good idea Jackie." The blonde agreed before turning to her mother, "And why stop at peas and corn? We could add sleeping pills, laxatives, oh maybe…"

"Ok! That's enough." Kitty almost shouted as she raised her hand up in the air to cut her daughter off from saying more. "I'll handle the potatoes, you just…just… go sit over there."

Laurie smiled proudly and then happily made her way past Kitty, who'd taken ahold of the bowl of potatoes, and bounced herself onto one of the orange barstool.

As quickly as the mash potatoes discussion had begun it died down and the women went back to the previous tasks. Donna and Jackie with their talk about work, Kitty went on checking the pots on the stove once more before trying to figure out a way to save her son's potatoes, and Laurie refilled her wine glass for a much needed drink.

It was at that moment that the basement door became ajar and Brooke made her way into the scene.

"Ok, I wasn't down there too long but already I'm pretty worried." The tall woman informed to the others.

Donna put a pause on her conversation with Jackie and looked over at Brooke, her curious frown remaining small, "Why what did the kids do now?"

"Nothing." She replied still sounding uncertain and almost frightened, "Well not _nothing_. They're yelling at the video game character and throwing kicks and punches around, like they're trying to control it that way…but really that's normal. It's Fez and Michael that have got me worried."

"Those are the kids she was talking about." Jackie stated and the redhead beside her nodded along.

Laurie looked up from her drink. She knew that Donna and Jackie could joke around and just wait to see how things played out; they didn't know what she and Brooke went through. The craziest things they had to worry about with their husbands doing consisted of _Star Wars_ and _Zeppelin_. Laurie and Brooke had fire, explosives, fireworks, vehicle, water, candy…really nothing was too safe when added to one of their husbands' bright ideas.

"What did Yogi and BooBoo do now?" the blonde asked being sure to stay calm until she saw a reason not to be.

"They haven't done anything yet, but they're planning something…and it doesn't sound good." Brooke began to say, "They're down in the basement, sitting in a corner, writing things down on a yellow legal pad, they were mumbling things to each other but I managed to hear a couple of scattered words."

Jackie looked over, more interested than worried, "What'd you hear?"

"I heard…" Brooke paused for a second or two as she tried to remember correctly, "Balloon…blanket…turkey…and Roman Candle Firecrackers."

At the last set of words the room seemed to freeze and all but two of the women's eyes became wide.

"Oh, that does not sound good." Kitty stated what everyone was thinking as she looked up from an open pan.

"Wait a minute…wait a minute." Laurie called out stopping her sister-in-laws from nodding their heads, she looked over at her friend—seriousness in her face, "Who was the one writing the things down? My idiot or yours?"

Brooke thought back, "Um…Fez. Yeah, it was Fez."

"Oh. Well then we have nothing to worry about." Laurie replied in a nonchalant manner.

Laurie's calmness confused her mother and the two younger women sitting at the breakfast table. Brooke had a hunch as to what she meant, but still couldn't help but show her own confused expression that seemed to match Kitty's, Jackie's and Donna's.

The looks that were sent her way caused Laurie to give a quick roll of her eyes before she went on to explain.

"Fez's handwriting is chicken scratch." She reminded those who knew and informed those who didn't, "They'll write out their crazy list but when it comes back to rereading it, they won't be able to understand more than a few words. So they'll rewrite the list all over again only to have the exact same thing happen again. They'll probably go through the whole thing three more times before they finally give up, and by that time they'll either be too discouraged to come up with another plan or it'll be time for dinner. Everything'll be fine."

Almost surprised by Laurie's logical explanation, the women in the group nodded along as their slightly shaken nerves began to even out into relief.

Suddenly a thought entered Jackie mind and she was quick to share it with the others. After all it was a very important topic that needed to be discussed.

"Oh that reminds me!" the tiny brunette perked up, "Who's doing Black Friday this year?"

"I am!" three different voice announced while three different hands were raised in the air.

Though there was one hand that remained down and a voice that was silent, no one seemed to notice as the discussion of the upcoming annual shopping trip began to be planned out.

"I wanna try to get Red one of those thirty two inch TVs this year." Kitty informed giggling a quick Kitty laugh, "I heard about some inside secret sales for that electronic store at the mall."

Laurie smiled at her mother's gift idea for her father and then turned to Jackie, "Yeah, and my shopping'll probably be mostly in the toy store. Ricky's asking Santa for some more of those Transformer action figure things. Mandy wants a pair of rollerblades. And I need two get two of those Super Soakers. One for Ricky and one for Fez."

"Make that three." Brooke jumped into the conversation, "Michael's asking for the red one."

"Ok." Jackie nodded before getting into full planning mode—it was obvious this wasn't the first year the women went to tackle the holiday sales. "We'll start off in the electronic section for Red's TV and some more video games for the kids. But since our start off is there that means we're gonna have to get there a lot earlier. I'm talking late night early morning kind of time."

Jackie paused for a few seconds to make sure the others agreed. When she saw the three heads nod, she continued.

"Alright. Then after that should be an hour or two later, we head to the toy store. That'll be where we spend most of our time, make sure you have your lists ready. I took Katy there three times this week so I have each aisle memorized and if we miss your aisle, too bad!"

Another pause occurred but this one being shorter than the last.

"Once we get through with the toys, we'll head over to the clothes store. Making sure to go in the zigzag line from store to store instead of going down one side and then the next like those suckers." 'General Hyde' released a small laugh and the others—excluding Donna—nodded along.

"And then finally we'll end the day at the shoe stores because…" the brunette drifted off for a few seconds, "Well we can't shop for everyone else and not buy something for ourselves. It's the number one rule of shopping."

Seeing her in-laws and close friend nod along to Jackie's words frightened Donna more than she thought it would. She was glad she stayed quiet through the conversation and especially glad that she stayed away from all shopping areas the day after Thanksgiving.

"Oh and Brooke remember your in charge of getting lunch." Jackie reminded, "So don't forget to get everyone's orders before we get into the mall."

Brooke nodded once, "Got it."

"Jackie, honey you're still bringing that double stroller you used for Rebecca and DJ when they were babies right?" Kitty questioned, sounding hopeful.

"Of course." Jackie answered with a bright smile, "That thing really came in handy last year. It made a big barrier for us against the crowd and since so many people thought we had babies in there no one tried to steal anything from us."

Laurie scoffed at the memory, "Yeah, it all worked out real nice until you started throwing shopping bags where the babies go. People thought you were crushing your baby!"

The brunette shrugged her tiny shoulders, "It kept my arms from getting sore and it gave me a place to put my bags. I have no regrets." Then a sudden thought popped into her head, "Oh and ladies do not forget your watches, stop watches, and whistles."

"Whistles?" Donna asked in disbelief, "This is…it's…_insane_!"

"Yeah, I guess." Jackie agreed with a small nod before giving a large grin, "But it's fun!"

Donna watched as the other women in the room nodded along and realized the whole Black Friday thing was beyond insane. Was there even such a word? Maybe they'd have to make up a word just for the event.

"Hey Jackie, remember the Cabbagepatch kid incident?" Laurie asked from her seat at the bar.

"Oh yeah."

"Who could forget?"

"Of course."

Were the responses along with small smiles that Laurie received and it made the outsider of the moment feel even more left out.

"Um, do I even want to know?" Donna asked with a cautious tone and matching facial expression.

"Well it was about four or five years ago or whenever it was those Cabbage Patch dolls were all the in thing." Kitty explained taking on the role of storyteller, "All of the girls were asking for one. And not just all of our girls, all of the little girls in Point Place. We spent practically half the day in the toy store!"

"Yeah, Laurie and I managed to get one for each Mandy and Betsy." Brooke continued on for Kitty, "But Rebecca wanted a special Cabbage Patch Kid."

"Tiffany Elizabeth." Jackie said snarling slightly at the memory.

Seeing that Donna's expression was still showing how she still needed more information to the story, Laurie decided to pick up the story.

"We were at the toy store when the doors opened and even then we had to fight off people for the damn dolls." She explained, "Brooke and I got ours and Mom and Jackie went looking for the one for Becky. Jackie was the one who found it. Then the second after she grabbed the doll some lady came out from the next aisle and grabbed the other side of the box."

"And the witch claimed that she 'saw it first!'" Jackie added in with similar angry rage that she had felt that day years ago.

Brooke nodded before contributing the next part of the story, "Yeah, the two of them end up in a pretty bad fight. There was screaming, hair pulling, scratching…"

"Our husbands would've loved it." Laurie added with a small smirk.

All Donna could do at the moment was sit mutely and blink her eyes rapidly while realizing how thankful she was that she had a son only.

Kitty picked up the story, "It got pretty bad. The woman put poor Jackie in a head lock! I had no idea what to do, but Jackie was able to take care of herself. She got out of the head lock by biting the woman's hand."

Donna's eyes widened with shock as she looked at her dear friend. Her mouth flapped open and closed for a few minutes before coming up with words.

"You…you…you bit a woman?"

Jackie shrugged in response and smiled, "I got the doll."

"You bit a woman!"

"And I got the doll, Donna!" Jackie replied not seeing why Donna seemed so upset.

Donna placed one hand on the side of her head as she shook it, giving up the fight and going back to her disbelief in finding out that her best friend had actually bit a woman for a doll.

Meanwhile Kitty smiled brightly at her daughter-in-law, "So Donna, did that story change your mind? Are you going to come Black Friday Shopping with us this year?"

"Um no…not really Kitty." Donna answered, a small headache was pounding in her head at just the thought of going with them, "I don't think I'll be going Black Friday Shopping this year." She paused for emphasis, "Or any other year."

Knowing that thinking Donna would come along for Black Friday sales or any other sales was a long shot, and figuring one more person—especially a newbie—would slow them down, the women shrugged and went on with their tasks from before.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__There you are! Chapter 3 of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" Hope you liked!_

_So how do you like your potatoes? Lumps? No Lumps? I actually have a cousin who likes lumps and sometimes has special potatoes for him._

_Do you go to Black Friday Sales? I haven't…yet. Always wanted to but have been a bit afraid and no one ever wants to go with me._

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you like, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, have a nice day and remember only 355 more days till Thanksgiving!_


	5. Important Author's Note

Hello Everyone!

Wow! First of all let me say I am so so so very very very deeply and truly sorry for not updating this fic in almost a year. That is just something so horrible and something I really do feel terrible about. Though I do have a reason for updating, though it might not be a very good one. See after I couldn't finish this fic in the time limit had planned to last year and it was already going into January plus I had all my other fics that I was still working on (and am still working on) I just couldn't see me working on another multi chapter fic. And last year was my first year/semester at college so I was still trying to get into the motion and not have too many nervous breakdowns. Plus I started to write this fic to help spread the holiday/Thanksgiving cheer and I also like writing holiday fics closer to the holiday. And so I decided to wait and put the story hiatus…until now.

Starting November 3. That's next Thursday not the coming one but the one after that. I will be posting a brand new chapter to this story! Yay! And the plan is the same as last year. Posting every Thursday during the month of November and on the week of Thanksgiving post everyday or every other day. :D

Those of you who started reading this fic last year are probably wondering how I can be able to follow this plan when I couldn't do it last year well to be honest I'm not absolutely sure I can but I am going to try my very best and it helps that the next chapter is just about ready to go.

I'm hoping as long as I stay ahead on my chapters (and schoolwork) and have people who still want to read this fic and still enjoy it that I can stay on the schedule and finish this story this time around! And too help you all out just abit I'm posting this AN so that you can reread the previous chapters if you have to refresh your memory or you new readers can catch up on the previous chapters and be ready for the next one! :D

So write it down or circle the date on the calendar or even just keep it in the back of your mind whatever you do I hope you all are as excited as I am about the upcoming chapter and will be back to check them out!

See you next week!

Nannygirl

P.S. Yes the identity of the guest will be reveal in the very near future!


	6. Rolls

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **Hello everyone! Well it's finally November 3 and just like I sai di would I've brought a new chapter for this Thanksgiving story and this time actally posted on the day I said I would. I think that means were off to a good start! :D Hope you all are as excited as I am for this story to continue, know a lot of you didn't review the AN I posted but I completely understand, it's an AN what would you reviw really—do want to give a big thanks to those of you who did though, glad to see some of you on board for these updates! I'm just hoping I didn't loose to many of you readers and perhaps maybe picked up a few new ones. Quick note about the following chapter, it's kinda filler chapter to help get both you all and myself back into the groove of the story, though it does kinda sorta set up a few things that will happen in upcoming chapters :-). Well I think I'll stop my rambling here, know you have waited long enough for a new chapter—very very sorry about that once again. Hope you like! Enjoy!_

* * *

To Fez and Michael Kelso it seemed like they had been down in the Forman basement thinking up blueprints for their Thanksgiving shenanigan for almost a year, however the truth was it had only been a few minutes, an hour at the most. So far they had come up with a few good ideas but nothing yet that jumped out to them saying 'Use me! Use me!' of course that didn't mean they were ready to give up on this shenanigan and move onto something else.

Both men appeared deep in thought as they stayed on the right side of the basement. Fez was seated on the green dyer, with a yellow notepad resting on his lap and the eraser on his yellow pencil in his mouth. Kelso was walking back and forth in front of Fez, one arm crossed over his chest while his hand from the other arm rubbed his chin continuously.

Meanwhile a few feet away from where the shenanigan planning was taking place the children of the gang sat in the same seats their parents sat in years ago—and still sat in today—they're eyes glued to the television screen and a game controller clasped tightly in Luke's hands while his fingers moved swiftly and furiously as he pressed the different buttons. It was as if they never even noticed the two 'adults' in the room and just continued on with their game.

"Oh I got it!" Kelso just about shouted as he stopped her pacing and pondering to turn to his foreign friend with a large grin on his face, "We go up on the roof…"

Fez furrowed his brow slightly before Kelso could even give his full proposal, "Wait a minute. Kelso why have all you ideas so far all started with 'we go up on the roof?'"

"Because Fez," he began to say in a tone that showed he thought Fez's question had been a dumb one, "we're trying to make the turkey fly and the roof is the place I always go to when I'm trying to fly."

Hitting his forehead very lightly with the tips of his fingers, Fez nodded as he too realized it had been a dumb question, seeing this made Kelso smile right before he went back to explaining his newest idea.

"Alright, we go up on the roof and we get one of those portable fans and then tape it…Oh! We duct tape it, cause that stuff works on everything…to the turkey. And right before we push the turkey off the roof we'll turn on the fan so then instead of falling to the ground the propellers from the fan will keep it up in the air and have it flying around like when the cartoon characters have one of those little propeller hats." Kelso excitedly shared, his dopey grin even bigger than before.

"Kelso, that is a great idea!" Fez praised before starting to write down the plan on the notebook, halfway through writing it however a question entered his head and he looked up, "Why don't we just use one of those propeller hats instead of a fan?"

"Fez, come on man. Not everything in cartoons is real."

The foreign man agreed with a sad nod as he remembered the time when he first realized that that statement was true. He had made sandwich as tall as the ones that Scooby and Shaggy had made, but unlike Shaggy and Scooby who managed to swallow the sandwich in one gulp, Fez had just about chocked before he even took one bite. It had been a sad day. Not wanting a repeat of the day, when Fez's mind thought of a possible obstacle for this operation he decide to just come out and state his concern.

"But won't the turkey be too heavy for the fan to keep up the air?" he questioned.

"Nah." Kelso quickly dismissed the inquiry, "It's a dead turkey so all the inside are gone and…Oh man I just came up with another one!" he exclaimed with his large grin back in place, "We go onto the roof and remember those Roman Candle Firecrackers I said to write down earlier?"

Fez nodded eagerly, wanting to know Kelso's plan.

"Well we stuff those firecrackers inside the turkey and them light 'em up!" Kelso said smiling and using his hands to show his excitement, "It'll go soaring up in the sky like a rocket…a turkey rocket! It'll be like Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July wrapped up together!"

"Oh what a glorious sight that will be." said Fez as he imagined the image with a dreamy eyed expression on his face, "Kelso, you are genius my friend."

With a shy and almost embarrassed grin Kelso nodded, "Yeah. I mean, I know that the turkey could just end up blowing up into a bunch of pieces but it's only like a fifty-sixty chance. And that's a chance I'm willing to take!"

"Me too." Fez agreed with his own smile.

Seeing his friend grin made Kelso's own smile grow—having a friend like Fez to help him create and act on these shenanigans was something he was definitely thankful for. Putting a friendly arm around Fez's shoulder Kelso looked down at the list of ideas they had so far.

"What about you Little Buddy?" he asked, "You have any ideas?"

"Noo." Fez said very bashfully.

Kelso continued to grin, knowing that tone of his friends, "You know you doo…"

Fez looked down and shook his head—reminding Kelso of the Vulture from the Bugs Bunny cartoons, "No. No, I don't."

"Okay then." Kelso said with a shrug of his shoulder before leaping off the dryer; actions that quickly brought a deep scowl onto the foreigner's face.

"You sonofabitch!" he exclaimed in out rage, "I do have an idea!"

"Well what is it?" Kelso shouted back.

"I'm telling it!" Fez yelled but then realized his voice was still at a very high volume—not that any of the kids noticed—and he cleared his throat while trying to calm and recompose himself, "What if we glue feathers onto the turkey? Then it will look like it when it was alive and since alive turkeys can fly then…"

"Hold on. Lemme stop you right there, Fez." Kelso interrupted in an affirmative voice with a raised palm, "Dead or alive, turkeys don't fly!"

Fez crossed his arms over his chest and replied, "Yes, they do."

"No they don't!" Kelso argued the same argument he'd had earlier with Eric in the living room.

"Yes they do! Eric said and he's a teacher!" Fez reminded, apparently he also recalled the argument.

Not seeing his friend's point Kelso frowned, "So? That doesn't mean anything. Teachers are always wrong. Remember Mr. Harrison from high school? He use to tell me I'd be lucky if I got a job flipping burgers at Fatso Burger, but look at me!"

Doing what his friend as him to do Fez looked Kelso over from top to bottom and then back again.

"Okay. Now what?" he asked slightly confused.

"No Fez, I mean look at me. I'm not working at fatso Burger. I've never worked there. I'm a security guard at the mall!"

Fez giggled and didn't even try to hide it, "Mall cop."

"Security guard!" Kelso corrected, in a louder voice than needed.

As the foreign man continued to giggle at his friend's expense, Kitty's quick footsteps could be heard as she came down the basement stairs. The small frown on her forehead deepened when she caught the sight of the scene that welcomed her into the bottom level of her house.

"I called you kids about fifteen minutes ago for some fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and not one of you has come upstairs." she stated while she stepped off the last step.

"Sorry Mrs. Forman." Kelso apologized, not noticing that the older woman's gaze was fixated on the young children playing the video game. "We got kinda distracted with the planning of our Thanksgiving shenanigan."

Fez nodded his heading agreement, "Yes, it is much harder than you would think."

Turning to look at the two men, Kitty wore a slightly confused frown and gave a small, short nod, "Oh, okay dears. But I was actually talking to the kids."

When Kelso and Fez saw Kitty wave her hand in a circular motion, gesturing towards the group that consisted of their children and nieces and nephews, their happy grins fell from their faces and were replaced with heartbroken expressions—one more heartbroken than the others.

"Right." Fez said in a sad voice, "Because we are not kids anymore. Oh what a sad day!" he declared before dropping his head in sorrow.

Kelso, feeling his best friend's pain, once again placed an arm around Fez's shoulder. Hoping to provide some more comfort, Kelso patted the shoulder that his right hand rested on. The consoling appeared to be doing its job and Fez leaned his head on Kelso's shoulder with a faint smile paying on his lips.

"It's alright, man." He said in a gentle voice, but when a sudden thought entered his mind he just about completely forgot about his troubled friend and turned to Kitty; a curious expression on his face as he ignored the pout that a feeling neglected Fez was sending him. "Hey Mrs. Forman, can turkeys fly?"

"Well yes…" Kitty began to answer, not sure if she felt more confused with the fact Kelso was asking the question or that he didn't know the answer.

Abruptly forgetting about being forgotten Fez sat himself up straighter and pointed his index finger at Kelso as one a victory grin crossed over his face, "Ha ha!"

Now it was Kelso's turn to pout and he did just that which puzzled Kitty even more. She wasn't sure what the reason for asking the question was or why the answer had made Fez so happy and Michael just the opposite, but she decided to continue with her explanation anyways.

"But only wild turkeys can. And even then they don't fly very high." She explained, "They're like chickens."

"Um Mrs. Forman, turkeys aren't like chickens." Kelso started to say, "They just taste like chicken."

Kitty rapidly blinked her eyes for several seconds not sure of what to add to this conversation. Soon she realized it would probably just be best if she brought it to a close. "Alright. Okay. Why don't you boys go back to your shenanigan planning?" She suggested with a nervous laugh, already knowing in the back of her mind that she would later regret those words, "And I'll just go talk to the grandkids."

Quick to agree, both Fez and Kelso nodded their heads and then returned to the organizing of their latest shenanigan. Meanwhile, Kitty looked over at the group of her grandkids who never even acknowledged any part of the conversation that she'd just has with the their fathers/uncles; they hadn't even noticed that she had entered the room. This of course made Kitty's scowl reappear and she placed her hands on her hips as she stepped closer to the sitting area.

"Are you kids still playing that game?" she asked but didn't wait for a reply, she knew she wouldn't get one, "Honestly, it's like every time I see any of you you're parked in front of the television set, with your eyes glued to the screen and that game remote thing in your hands."

"It's called a game controller, Grandma." DJ, short for Daniel James, explained but never moving his eyes from the game his cousin was currently playing.

"Well, it certainly is controlling your lives." Kitty replied, still unhappy that she was losing her grandchildren to some video game and so began to rant a bit; "You know I don't understand what the big deal is about this game…"

However in the middle of her vent, an idea popped into her mind, maybe she hadn't lost them completely.

"I mean what's the goal of the game? Why do you love it so much? Oh you know what would be fun?" she questioned with a bright smile and both her eyebrows raised, "If you all told me all about these things, upstairs over some cookies and milk."

The reaction Kitty received was not at all like the one she was hoping for. She wanted the game remote…controller to be thrown in the air and the game be forgotten as all eight children raced their way up the staircase and into the kitchen. Instead the darn controller remained in Luke's hands and the only movement from any of the group was Luke's thumbs frantically moving over the controller's red and black buttons.

But each of the kids knew it wasn't wise to ignore their grandmother and so they did at least answer her questions…though of course not the way Kitty had wanted them to do it.

"There's different missions and different goals for all of them." Luke explained, still playing the game and never looking Kitty's way.

DJ nodded and stayed just as focus on the game while adding in some more information for his grandmother, "In this mission Luke has to fight all these guys and then go into the river to disarm all the explosives before the dam blows."

"It's a cool game, Grandma." Becky added, still hypnotized by the TV screen.

Even Betsy—the oldest of the group—was captivated the by the game, "It's fun."

"You get to fight the bad guys!" Mikey spoke up after his sister, shadow punching as he kept his eyes on the set.

"It's got the Ninja Turtles!" shouted an excited Ricky.

Katie nodded eagerly—the baby of the family also a victim to the game, "Yeah, Ninja Turles!"

"It's got Michelangelo." Mandy threw in with almost a dreamy sigh.

"Ha Ha!" Mikey teased, "Mandy has a crush on Michelangelo!"

Mandy shoved the boy sitting beside her, though still didn't look away from the TV, "I do not!"

Kitty became confused again, "The painter?"

"No, Mom." Fez shook his head as he jumped off the dryer and started to clear things up for his mother-in-law, "Michelangelo is one of the Ninja Turtles."

"Oh." Kitty simply said, though inside her mind still thought it was an unusual name for a turtle or a ninja.

"Yeah. Like a painter could be a ninja." Kelso scoffed in his two cents.

Kitty just stared back at the grinning, tall man with a small frown before she shook her head and decided to keep the comment she had about how a turtle could be a ninja to herself. She then turned her attention to her grandchildren—still not ready to give up yet.

"Alright. So no cookies and milk. Fine. But at least come upstairs for a little bit and visit with me or your Grandpa Red or your aunts and uncles or…Oh!" She said her tone suddenly turning to an excited one, "You could go outside and play in the snow. That's always fun."

"Hey, I like that idea." The youngest Kelso declared with a smile that matched his father's.

When Kitty saw that she at last had one pair of eyes off of the television set her whole face lit up, "Really, Mikey?"

"Yeah." The young boy nodded and then looked at his friends, "Hey guys let's move the TV outside…"

"That's my boy!" Kelso exclaimed proudly, too impressed by his son's new and brilliant idea to notice Kitty's shocked expression.

"No, no. Nobody is moving any TV outside." She said though none of the kids had budged an inch; seeing this Kitty realized that she was not going to et exactly what she wanted but at least try to negotiate a little, "Okay, okay. You all want to play your turtle ninja game but only one person can play at a time, so not all of you have to be down here, right?"

Silence.

"I'm sure at least some of you want to come up to the kitchen and help me with baking the pumpkin pie." She added hoping at least one of them would speak up; when no one did she turned to one of her granddaughters, "Mandy, sweetie, what about you?"

Usually Mandy was the grandchild who was always so eager to help Kitty in the kitchen, ever since she was little. She had a very close relationship with Grandma Kitty and Eric was convinced it had something to do with evil in the Sigurdson Family once again skipping a generation.

"Um, maybe later Grandma." She replied, making the effort to tear her eyes away from the screen and up at Kitty if only for a second, "I'm after Luke."

"And I'm after Mandy." DJ added before Kitty could respond to Mandy's statement.

Knowing she was next in line Becky quickly spoke up, "I'm after DJ."

"Then it's me." Mikey announced proudly.

"It's my turn after Mikey." said Betsy.

Ricky raised his hand, "I'm after Betsy."

"Me next!" Katie added in happily

Now starting to feel both frustrated and defeated, Kitty placed a hand to her head as if it would help with the pain, and then let out a sigh.

"I give up!" she declared tossing her hands in the air and then turning towards the staircase, ready to return back to her kitchen, "Come on, Michael, Fez. I guess this means more cookies for you two."

When she didn't hear any footsteps but her own Kitty looked behind her and found the two men standing where she'd left them; each looking equally nervous.

"Actually, Mrs. Forman, I'm after Katie." Kelso informed.

"Yes, and then it is my turn." Fez stated and then added in a sad voice, "Last as always."

As she heard the responses, Kitty glared an angrily glare that reminded both men of the days of Menopausal Kitty, not days that were pleasant to remember.

Kitty had had enough. This video game had already stolen her grandbabies, there's was no way she was letting it get its hands on any more of her children. Watching Kitty march down the steps, already frightened both Fez and Kelso and when she got between them they felt like they were about to be led through a haunted house.

"Ah!"

"Ow!"

They both exclaimed as Kitty tightly grabbed onto Fez's right upper arm and Kelso's left wrist and then proceed to drag and push them up the staircase.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **And that my friends is Chapter 4 of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" Hope you liked it!_

_So do any of you get wrapped up in playing any video games during the holiday seasons that you block out most of the happenings around you? It happens over here sometimes but I'm usually helping the kitchen—I find it more fun and I really stink at video games. I'm the one who the others are always yelling at to 'stop dying' lol_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, see you next Thursday, take care, have a nice day and remember only 21 more days till Thanksgiving!_


	7. Football

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **Hello all! Well first of all let me apologize for not posting yesterday, I truly am very sorry about that. I had a Biology test yesterday that I was studying for the days before, meaning I had very little time for that and then after the test I pretty much slept for the rest of the day lol. But I really am so sorry for posting this late…thought it could have been a lot later if you think about lol. Will try my best not to do it again, hope you all aren't too mad at me. I also want to say thank you so very much for all your extremely generous review. They all made me smile and made me even more excited to continue this fic. Hugs and candy to you all—have a lot of it left over from Halloween lol. Oo and I guess this chapter could be considered another filler, but I don't really think so…it is longer than the last so that's good :D Well don't wanna keep you from reading any longer, so go on. Enjoy!_

* * *

"I don't get football." Jackie said out loud, frowning lightly at the television screen in front of her.

No one in the living room—which was where she seated currently—seemed to have heard her, or if they had they just ignored her. Beside Jackie, on the right side of the yellow couch were Donna and Eric; Donna of course looked to be the one more interested in the game than Eric, who had his right elbow propped up on the sofa's arm and his head leaned against his closed hand. Sitting on the left side of Jackie was her husband who watched the game but remained in his 'cool' Zen self, one arm draped behind Jackie's back and the other resting on the couch's left arm.

Over on the piano bench were Kelso and Brooke both looking at the television but not paying too much attention to the game playing on it. Fez and Laurie were seated on floor since all the seats in the room were taken. Not surprisingly, Fez seemed more interested in the shag carpet than in the football game but what was a bit of surprise was that his wife seemed to be just as into the game as her father who was seated in his armchair doing his best to ignore the Dumbass Bunch in his living room.

When Jackie saw that no one had agree or disagreed to what she'd said, she decided to continue. After all no one had said to be quiet either, "It's gotta be the most pointless sport there is."

Red scowled at the comment yet did nothing else except try even harder to block out all of these blockheads.

"No. I guess soccer's really the most pointless sport." Jackie added in, reminding Red why she was his favorite, "But then it's football! I mean it's just a bunch of guys fighting over a weird shaped ball. Which shouldn't even be called a ball. Balls are supposed to be round all around like oranges or pearls, not in the shape of nasty, icky eggs."

Donna turned away from the game to frown at her friend, "Jackie, you were cheerleader all through high school. You cheered at all the football games. How can you not understand football?"

"I just cheered when everyone else cheered." The raven-haired woman revealed with a shrug and then turned to glance over at her far right, "And I never cheered for the wrong team."

Knowing that she was sending the comment his way, Eric looked up and over at his friends, "I'm never gonna live that one down am I?"

"Wouldn't count on it, man." Hyde replied but kept his eyes on the set.

Eric nodded, "Just making sure."

"Jackie, you're not alone in not understanding football." Brooke decided to share, "I've tried to, especially for the Thanksgiving games. Every year I sit down and try to get into a game but somehow I end up back in the kitchen helping with dinner."

As soon as she heard the librarian's words the feminist in Donna woke up and an in thought crease appeared on her forehead, "You know Brooke, you made a really good point."

"I did?" Brooke asked confused; she hadn't been trying to make any kind of point.

"Yeah." Donna nodded, forgetting about the game and ready to share the details of the idea in her head, "Why are there always football games on thanksgiving day? Why is it that every year all the men are just sitting around, watching these stupid games while the women are the ones slaving away in the kitchen making dinner?"

Feeling as if someone was watching him Eric looked away from the television screen and instantly caught his wife's green eyes with his own. He had heard every word she had said but was hoping that it would be someone else who answered the question. Jackie, with an answer that agreed with Donna. Kelso, with a stupid comment that only Kelso could come up with. Or Fez with a answer that didn't actually answer the question but only confused them all even more. Anyone else but him. After all, once dinner was over he had to go home with her.

Cautiously, Eric broke the eye contact and shifted his eyes from one side of the room to the other, hoping to get a little help from somebody. A funny thing happened at that moment though. The second Eric tore his gaze away from his wife's, the five pairs of eyes that had been watching the couple, swiftly turned towards the TV as if the football game was suddenly the most interesting in the world.

It didn't take long for Eric to realize he was on his own and with a nervous smile he looked back over to hi his wife.

"Me?' he asked timidly, pointing a finger at himself; Donna's silence gave him his answer and he cleared his throat before continuing, "Well I don't really think I'm the best person to ask. I mean…I cheered for the wrong team." He reminded but this time laughing about it, "And I don't think you were slaving to make anything in the kitchen earlier, either."

"Burn!" Kelso suddenly shouted.

Kelso's exclamation caught Eric completely off guard, and caused the smile on his proud face to diminish and be replaced with shock. He then tried make things better and assure his wife that he hadn't meant his words like that, even though the frown on Donna's face was being directed at Kelso rather than her husband.

"No. No. Not a burn. I just meant…I…" in fear of making things worse, Eric decided to try and answer the question all over again, "it's an American tradition. It's like that in every house on every Thanksgiving."

"Not at Edna's." Hyde interjected casually, yet still grabbing most of his friend's attention, "Yeah, we never celebrated Thanksgiving there. Closest thing was that one year she brought home some fat guy who looked like a turkey and was named Tom."

While Jackie leaned her head down on her husband's shoulder as a way to give him a small sort of comfort, Eric turned to look at his father who was still deeply engrossed with the football game on TV.

"Hey Dad, you always watch football on thanksgiving and you've had the most thanksgivings out of all of us…" Eric suddenly paused a he held his breath, hoping his remark about his father's age wouldn't earn him a foot in the ass threat; seconds passed and nothing happened so he decided to go on, "Why do they have football games on Thanksgiving Day?"

Red let out an audible groan at the question. It had to be the dumbest question he'd been asked today…of course that was mostly because it was asked during the actual game and not a commercial break—the time when non-dumbasses asked their questions. Still as aggravated as he was now, Red knew by now the harder you tired to ignore a dumbass the more they acted like a dumbass. And who knew maybe him answering the question would allow him to finally watch his game in peace.

"Because," the balding man began to explain with a sigh but then suddenly realized he wasn't quite sure of the answer either. He'd never questioned it before; watching football games all day, why would he?

Shifting his eyes away from the set for a just abit, Red saw his children staring at him waiting for an answer. But Red was in no mood to try and come up with one on his own, especially since it would probably lead to the common follow up question 'But why?' And so with a stern scowl intended on his forehead, he gave them the next best thing.

"Shut up and watch the damn game." He ordered.

Right away everyone turned their heads away from Red and back to the screen of the television…well almost everyone.

"I don't wanna watch the game." Kelso said, practically whining.

And as soon as Kelso got started his trusty sidekick wasn't too far behind and started his own whining, "Me neither! It's boring, let's watch something else."

"Yeah!" the tall man on piano bench was quick to agree, "Hey Red, change it over to the Macy's Parade."

"No." came Red's reply—his eyes back on the game.

Fez pouted, "Why not?"

"Parade's over." Red answered; not knowing if this were a fact or not and not really caring, he just wanted them both to be quiet.

"Aww!" the two grown men cried disappointedly, each looking like they had been denied the chance to ride one of their favorite rides at the carnival. Which actually had happened to the twosome three years ago when they tried riding the kiddy bumper cars—though in all fairness when they sat in the cars their knees came up to their chests.

"Man, that means we missed Kermit!" Kelso stated with not a trace of happiness in his voice.

Whipping his head to his man-pretty friend Fez glared sternly, "Forget your precious Kermit, you sonofabitch. We missed Santa Clause! We did not get to see him wave to all the little boys and girls letting everyone know that the Christmas Season is here!"

Hyde couldn't but smirk at his foreign friend's words and the sad puppy dog face his face wore, "Christmas just won't be the same this year, huh Fez?"

Not detecting the sarcasm in Hyde's voice Fez sorrowfully nodded his head up and down. Kelso, however, did not like seeing his friend look so sad and so he reached over and down to gently pat the foreign shoulder.

"It's alright buddy." He tried to assure him, "We've still gotta take the kids to go see him at the mall."

"That is true." Fez agreed in a small voice that at least sounded a pinch bit happier than before.

Kelso nodded head again until an abrupt idea entered his mind and his head shot up and turned to the groups' father's figure, "Oo Red, change it to the parade."

"Kelso, I already told you the damn parade is over." Red growled back.

"Yeah but then that means The Dog Show is up next!" the kettle head explained, practically bouncing in his seat with excitement, "Me and Brooke can start our shopping for our new dog!"

At her husband's word's Brooke eyes widened slightly but she soon felt relieved when she saw that Red only shook his head and then went back to ignoring Kelso and the others, but mostly Kelso. Of course it was only a small feeling of relief that Brooke felt, she knew that whether or not Red had switched the channel she was going to have to address this topic—that had been going on since March—with her husband.

"Michael." Brooke began to say in a firm tone of voice, "We are not getting a dog."

The grin on Michael Kelso's face shattered and a brokenhearted expression soon built itself in its place. "What? But…But…"

"No Michael."

"Fine!" Kelso said in a tone that showed how 'fine' he actually was with the answer. He'd crossed his arms over his chest like a small child and if he hadn't been sitting in a seat that had no back to it, he'd been leaning back against it. "I never get anything I want."

Brooke rolled her eyes at her 'third child' "Michael, we already have three dogs."

"Yea and I want another one so we can have four. That way it'll be an even and not odd, cuz everyone knows even is better than odd!" Kelso rambled on as if what he was saying made the most sense in the world and was a well known fact by millions, "God Brooke, it's only four dogs. It's not like I wanna have eight dogs…"

As soon as his words started drifting off his friends knew another one of Kelso's 'Brilliant' Ideas were being formed.

"We should get eight dogs!" Kelso shouted animatedly, Brooke's denial of having a four dog the furthest thing from his mind, "And then for Christmas we can put little antlers on them, get a sleigh and I'll dress up as Santa Clause and we can be our Christmas lawn decorations!"

Hyde smirked in amusement as he watch the two different reactions that Kelso's words caused—Fez looked more excited than he did the night before Halloween and poor Brooke looked as panic as anyone who married a Kelso should be. Still as entertaining as the expressions on his friends faces were, this included the overly large grin on Kelso's, it wasn't enough to hold his attention for long and he swung his head around to his adopted father.

"Hey Red, who're you going for this year?"

"Anyone who's no the pansy ass Lions." Red replied without a second thought and without moving his focus away from the game.

Nodding his head in a casual manner, Hyde knew he should have expected an answer like that. He remembered hearing, probably from Red, the way the Lions and the Packers had played against each other every Thanksgiving from 1951 to '63; it made sense for Red to be going for the Lions' opposing team. However what Hyde hadn't seen coming was his own wife jumping into the conversation—a conversation about football—and giving her own thoughts.

Jackie moved her head up and down, "I'm with Red. I'm rooting for the Broncos."

With his eyebrows raised up a few inches from their regular spot, Hyde shifted himself away a little from this person who was claiming to be his wife. On Jackie's right side, the responses were quite similar to Hyde's. Donna, her arms still crossed over her chest, knitted her dark eyebrows closer together as she scanned her gaze over Jackie at least twice. And Eric seemed to be more the one who was curious than confused and he watched Jackie carefully with a suspicious left eyebrow arched up higher than the right.

"Really?" Donna asked, wondering if maybe Jackie had even realized what she'd said.

But apparently she had and the brunette gave a confirming nod as her retort.

"Wait a minute…I think I've got it." Eric said and got ready to test the theory he had formed in his head concerning Jackie's answer; he scooted closer to the edge of the couch in order to get a better look at Jackie then began to wag his index finger in her direction, "Are you rooting for the 'Broncos' because they're horses and horses are ponies?"

"No! God, Eric, do you really think I haven't grown up at all?" Jackie shot out with a snarl and then decided to allocate her explanation, "I chose the Broncos because they look like the better team. I mean the Lions are wearing white after Labor Day, who does that?"

Relieved looks washed over each other three face, well two out of the three faces—Eric still looked a bit puzzled by the clarification given by the petite woman. A content smirk on his lips, Hyde shifted himself back into his place getting rid of all those few spaces he had put between them only a minute or two ago.

Donna was also very glad to see the side of her old friend that she was use to seeing and she smiled lightly but the smile faded when she noticed there was someone in the room who hadn't said more then two words since they'd all come into the room.

"Laurie?" she called her sister-in-law who looked just about hypnotized by the television set, "Are you okay?"

At least five seconds passed before the blonde woman sitting on the floor shook her head and looked up at Donna, "Huh?"

"Are you okay?" Donna repeated, now frowning.

"Oh yeah. I'm fine. I just got into the game. Those football players are wearing some really, _really _tight pants." Laurie informed with a lustful look in her eyes before turning back to the game. "I love football."

Hearing Laurie's statement caused several different responses from those around her. A grin appeared on Fez's face because he knew his wife loved the tight pants and was happy he still had a few pairs in his closet. Hyde and Red seemed to have ignored the words while Eric looked at his sister with slight repulsion and Kelso held back a laugh. Meanwhile the other women in the room all had similar reactions, eyebrows were inched closer together out of confusion but then curiously set in and the three women turned their attention back to the television screen wondering if maybe they had misjudged this Great American Past Time.

As Eric looked away from his sister, his minor grimace diminishing little by little, he noticed that the football game ad gained a few more viewers. Though, instead of commenting on any of the newer audience members, Eric decided to direct his words to the viewer whose eyes seemed to only leave the TV when a new beer was needed.

"Hey Dad, you look just as into the game as Laurie…" Eric pointed out and the paused to erase the small scowl on his forehead and tilt his head just a smidgen to the left, "Is there something you're not tell…"

"Shut it before I shut it for you." Red barked, his gaze still fastened on the game.

Not having to be told twice Eric shut his mouth close and nodded his head with his eyes looking down at his clasped hands, not seeing an amused Hyde slightly snickering, two seats away from him.

"You know," Kelso said suddenly, and almost instantly most of the people in the room new this wasn't going to lead up to anything good—Kelso and random thoughts never did, "I get the whole Cowboys and Indians playing every thanksgiving cuz they were the ones who were fighting against each other, then made up and had the first thanksgiving dinner together. But what's with the Lions?"

Both Hyde and Eric looked over at their childhood friend, wearing puzzled scowls as the facial expressions. Hyde's frown seemed to be asking 'How the hell did you get past kindergarten?' while Eric's was more of him wondering why after a fifteen plus year friendship, he was still surprised by the things that Kelso said. On the other hand there were some, well one person, who found the statement to be very intriguing. That person being of course Fez who had pressed his lips together and started bobbing his head up and down as if pondering over the question as well.

Apparently Fez's expression was the only one Kelso took notice of since he continued on with his observation.

"Lions don't have anything to do with Thanksgiving. They should've picked a team that was more Thanksgiving-y."

"Like what, man? The Turkeys?" Hyde scoffed.

The sarcasm was once more lost on Kelso and his brown eyes widened while he pointed his index finger at Hyde, "See now you're thinking!"

"Yeah, and you're obviously not. Like always" Hyde shot back.

Immediately a pained expression crossed Michael Kelso's face as his jaw dropped open and he let out a piercing, "Ahh!"

The face and cry went unseen and unheard, or at least ignored, by Hyde and Eric; though not by Kelso's trusty first mate who was quick to jump in and try to defend and comfort his skipper.

"Do not listen to him, Kelso." Fez stated while he gave Hyde the stink eye and patted Kelso's left knee gingerly, "You are always thinking. And you always share those great thinking thoughts with us. You are a wonderful teacher."

"Whoa. Hold on a second there, Fez." Eric interrupted his brother-in-law, one open palm in the air and a small smug like smile forming on his lips, 'I think if anyone here is a wonderful teacher it would be someone who is actually a teacher. Someone such as I."

The room suddenly became silent—with the exception of the sports announcers on TV. It was this stillness of his friends and his family that made Eric's smirk drop and his eyebrows furrow closer together.

Finally Kelso decided to speak up as he thought, for whatever reason, he would be the best choice to retort to Eric's words.

"Yeah you're a teacher, but Fez said a wonderful teacher. You have to be smart and cool to be a wonderful teacher." He ended with a slight puff in his broad chest.

"What? No! I am a wonderful teacher." Eric argued, "I'm both smart and cool."

Mumbles and mutters of 'Yea, okay' 'If you say so, man' and 'Suuurree' along with a few very audible chuckles were the replies that followed Eric's protest but in no way discouraged him; if anything it may have just fired him up even more.

"Alright. Alright." Eric began to say, eyeing each of his laughing friends, "Well let's see... Raise your hand if you went and graduated from college."

In a split second Eric's right hand was up in the air stretched as far as it could go. He scanned his eyes over at Hyde then Fez and then Kelso, as if challenging them to raise up their own hands. However none of the three made any movement at all—it was something that brought the smile back onto Eric's face.

"Yeah." He nodded as he brought his hand back down, "Yeah. That's what I thought."

This time it was Eric who was on the receiving end of Fez's stink eye, "Fine. You are smart but you are still not as wonderful a teacher as Kelso because you need to be cool too and you are as cool as a cucumber in the fridge...wait a minute." The foreigner drifted off suddenly realizing maybe that wasn't the best analogy, "You are as cool as a cucumber not in the fridge!" he ended, his eyebrows raised upwards.

"Good one, Fez." Hyde said dryly.

Fez grinned and nodded, obviously not hearing the true tone in Hyde's voice, "Thank you."

"Hey I'm totally cool! You can ask any of my students." Eric started protect himself again, "They're always saying how cool I am."

"Forman, man, when has anyone ever said something was cool and meant it?" Hyde inquired, his arms folded comfortably over his torso.

Eric turned his head to his adopted brother and stared back at him with his eyebrows mere centimeters away from each other, "Uh…you do that, Hyde. Pretty much all the time."

"Yeah, I say things are cool." The curly haired, former rebel nodded, "But do I ever really mean it?"

"Yes." Eric nodded but then started to think back and realized maybe Hyde hadn't always thought whatever he was saying 'cool' to was 'cool;' he swiftly changed his answer, "No…Yes…I don't know! You and your stupid 'Zen!'"

Hyde smirked, clearly entertained by the scene, but stayed mute and let his brother continue.

"Look, you guys think whatever you want but I am a cool teacher." Eric said, deciding to give it just one more shot, "I'm like Mr. Hughes. Remember him?"

Mr. Hughes had been their history teacher, their junior year of high school. He was The Cool teacher that all other teachers were compared to. He was like a big kid himself, never gave homework, had open book tests, and most of the time ended up getting off topic and discussing with his students music and exchanging concert stories with them.

"Oh yeah." Kelso nodded.

Fez smiled almost sadly, "I would go back to high school just to have him as a teacher again."

"Yeah," Hyde agreed as well, "But Mr. Hughes never wore any jackets with the suede patches on the elbows."

"My classroom gets cold!" Eric objected.

"What the hell are you all doing in here?" Red, suddenly asked in his usual gruff and angry tone of voice. He'd finally had enough of all their gibber gabber, even the women were being quieter than them, he had even moved his eyes off the television set.

The abrupt question startled the four mean and they struggled to not only say anything but also had a hard time thinking up an possible replies. They sat there looking like deer caught in the headlights.

"Uh, don't look at me, Red." Hyde spoke, keeping his Zen, and turning back to the TV, "I'm watching the game."

Eric scowled at Hyde's actions, because he knew he really wasn't paying attention to the game but mostly because it meant he was on his own now. Well he had Kelso and Fez but that pretty much still meant he was on his own.

"Um we um…"Eric stammered slightly before giving a weak, "Love you. And love spending time with you?"

Kelso nodded, for once catching on to the plan and following it, "We missed you."

"Yeah, Dad." Fez closed up with a grin.

Red began to glare daggers at his foreign son-in-law, who for some reason just continued to smile. Meanwhile in the background, Eric resisted the urge to drop his head into his hands. Why, WHY, had Fez thought that would be good thing to say? Shaking his head at the question, Eric made the decision to just let his father in on what was really happening—it would probably be easier and not give Red another heart attack.

"Dad, the kids…our kids…" Eric sighed, almost dramatically then looked up and met his scowling father's eyes, "They took our basement! I mean your basement…sir."

With a pout on his lips Kelso nodded, "Yeah and now we don't have anywhere else to go."

"Good." came Red's response, an evil smirk appearing on his face, "It's about time you dumbasses got a taste of your own medicine." He said and then changed his tone to a much grouchier one, "That still doesn't explain why my living room is infested with you morons."

Hyde shrugged, deciding to follow Eric's lead and just come out with it, "It's the only room that we'll all fit in and each have somewhere to sit."

"And not feel squished." Fez said, "I am very closetphobic."

The frown Red wore deepened but before he or any of Fez's friends could say anything or even try to correct him, Eric carried on the explanation of why they were all in this room with his father.

"Yeah, I mean there's the kitchen too." he added in, "But Mom's in there working on diner and if we go in she might…like make us work."

When the balding man nodded his head in an almost understanding manner, the young men thought that perhaps the topic would be dropped and they would be allowed to stay in the living room. So when Red made his follow up statement it wasn't one they saw coming.

"You still can't stay here." He said sternly, looking back at the television screen.

"What? Why not?"

"Because if you stay in here, at the rate you're going when it comes time to say the things your thankful for," Red began to say never moving his eyes away from the game on TV, "Not having my foot up your ass, isn't going to be one of them." he turned his head to finish his threat with a glare, "For any of you."

The four men exchanged worried looks with one another—in all the years that they knew Red he'd never acted upon any of the threats he'd made towards them but that didn't make them any less scarier.

"That is one of the top things I am thankful for." Eric said aloud.

Fez nodded, "Me too."

"Me three." Kelso agreed and Hyde nodded with his own agreement.

And with that said, simultaneously the four friends stood up from their seats and started to make their way to the kitchen's swinging door. Their wives, conversely, remained seated in their spots, eyes glued on the television's screen. While Kelso, Eric, and Fez continued into the kitchen without a second thought, Hyde didn't take another step away from the couch and instead looked down at his motionless wife.

"Jackie, you coming?" he asked, he would have thought she'd be the first one up and out of the room.

The brunnte nodded but didn't even glance at him, "Yeah, yeah I'll be right there."

"Are you actually watching the game?"

"Yeah, I finally understand it!" she replied happily, eyes still never stuck on the TV, "Those really are some really tight pants."

* * *

_**Author's Note: **There you go! Chapter 5 of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" Hope you liked!_

_So do you watch the football games on Thanksgiving day? If you do why? For the tradition, for the teams (Go Cowboys! ;P), or for the tight pants?_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you like, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, see you next week, have a nice day and remember only 13 more days till Thanksgiving!_


	8. Pumpkin Pie

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note:** Hello everyone! Happy Thursday! How are you all? Hope you're doing well. Well I've got some good news and bad news. Good News: I posted on Thursday! Yay! So very sorry about last week, once again. Bad News: It's a very short chapter. Sorry about this guys but I've been sick these past few days and didn't get to finish the next scene that was the other half of this chapter and I didn't want to miss another Thursday so I decided to post what I had completed which I this scene…a RK scene, but please still give it a chance. Good News: The second scene/next chapter is almost complete so I would like to see if this 'compromise' is okay with all of you….i will post up the next chapter either tomorrow or Saturday but only if you all feel up to it and want me too and of course leaving a review wouldn't hurt either! We're getting to the part in the story that everything starts coming together, the mystery guest will be reviled and updates will be every other day or every day…aren't you guys freaking out…I mean exited lol I'm the one freaking out lol Anyways this AN is getting pretty long so I just wanted to thank all of you readers who are still reading and enjoying, big thanks to my reviewers too, sorry guys no goodies this time, unless your interested in some cough drops lol. If you wanna read the next chapter before the end of the week lemme know! Hope you like this shorter one! Enjoy!_

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Kitty Forman entered her living room as she wiped her hands off on the apron she was wearing; she smiled almost immediately when she saw her husband sitting contently in his green armchair. She walked up behind him and gently placed her palms on each of his shoulders.

"There's my wonderfully terrific husband." She practically sang before she leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of Red's head.

Never once moving his eyes away from the television, he replied in a gruff voice, "What do you want?"

Clearly outraged by being asked such a question, Kitty removed her hands from her husband and placed them on her hips and then walked out from the back of the chair and over to the left side so that Red could see her better. Though it probably would have been better if she'd stood in front of the chair to block the view of the TV set that Red was still watching.

"Red Forman, why would you assume that I only came in here because I wanted something?" Kitty questioned.

His eyes remaining on the football game, Red began his explanation, "We've been married thirty six years, Kitty. I think I know you pretty well by now."

"Well I'll have you know, that I did not come in here because I wanted anything. Which proves that even after thirty six years I can still surprise you." Kitty went on, adding in a small giggle after her last statement, "I just came in here because I was alone in the kitchen and I knew you were alone in here, since you kicked out the kids a little while ago. I thought we could keep each other company."

"Uh- huh." Red said, still not convinced but deciding to keep his answer short.

From the corner of his eye he saw his wife take a seat on the sofa and he found himself hoping that his short answer would remind her that conversations—long or short—were not a part of watching football.

As she sat in her seat, Kitty clasped her hand together and leaned forward just a bit. She looked on at the game but after less than five seconds became uninterested and turned her attention to Red.

"So, how's the game? Is your team winning?"

Before answering Red shut his eyes and slowly exhaled a deep breath through his nose. There went that idea.

"Kitty, _my_ team has and always will be The Packers and they're not playing today." He reminded and then continued his response, "And the team I'm going for right now isn't winning either."

"Oh." Said Kitty, sounding somewhat disappointed but then smile hopefully at her husband, "Maybe they'll catch up."

Red shook his head, "Not with all those pansy dumbasses on the team. I swear they make Eric look like Bart Starr!"

Slightly confused by the statement, Kitty furrowed her brows while she tried to figure out if her husband's words had been a compliment or an insult directed towards their son. However after awhile she decided to not over think it and shook her head, ready to bring things back on track.

"Well I think I know something that will make things a little better." she shared, raising up both her eyebrows and titling her head just a tad bit to the left.

"Oh?" came Red's curious response and then watched her smile and nod as she stood up from her seat.

The smirk like smile that was playing on his lips couldn't be fought off when he saw he wife disappear behind the swinging door and into the kitchen—the room where she was cooking up many of her mouthwatering delicious dishes, including one of his personal favorite. Her special yams. And he was hoping that a serving—heck even just a sample—of those yams would be what Kitty came back into the room with. It would certainly make some things better.

His smirk turned into a genuine smile the moment he heard the door push open and the padding footsteps of his wife as she walked back into their living room; his stomach grumbling at the thought of the dish alone. But once Kitty was at his side again and placed in front of Red what she had brought in from the kitchen for him, the grumbling silenced and his smile vanished.

Needless to say Kitty was right. After thirty six years she was still able to surprise him.

"Kitty, what the hell is this?" Red asked angrily, the deep wrinkle on his forehead making one of its regular appearances.

"A list." She retorted, the paper remaining in her hand and in front of her husband.

"A list…"

Kitty nodded, "Of things I need from the grocery store."

"Damn it, Kitty. We made at least five trips there this past week. You practically bought every item in there." Red groaned, obviously not a fan of the plans his wife had for him, "I have the receipts and the back pain from lugging all those bags out of the car to prove it."

"I know, Red." Kitty agreed in a sympathetic tone, "But there are just a couple of things that I miscalculated and so I need some more of some things and other things just slipped my mind…I guess it's all part of getting old…like I am." She finished her voice breaking towards the end of her sentence.

The sounding close to tears voice that his wife used caused Red to let out a heavy sigh before he reached up and grasped the notebook paper from her hands. Though as much as he didn't want to see Kitty cry he didn't want to want to go to the grocery store either, so he decided to look over the list of items and see if there was a way to convince his wife that she actually didn't need any of the things she claimed she did.

"Eggs." He read off the list and Kitty nodded.

"I used half of that new dozen we bought yesterday when the grandkids got dropped off for breakfast."

Red shook his head at the memory of his kitchen being filled with the mini-dumbasses and then returned his gaze to the sheet of paper, "Ground cloves."

"For the pumpkin pie." Kitty explained, "I thought we had some but it turns out we don't. And you can't have Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie, that's like…The Fourth of July without apple pie."

"I thought you were making an apple pie too." Red stated more than questioned.

Kitty stared back at her husband, she knew what he was up to and knew she had to be careful about her response or he'd be telling her she didn't have to make a pumpkin pie if she was making an apple pie, but if she wasn't going to be able to make a pumpkin pie then she might as not even make a turkey! She stood there just looking at Red and blinking her eyes for awhile as she tried to find her words.

"Well it's an American dish and an American holiday." She finally said.

Not having much to say to that Red looked back at his wife's list and his eyebrows squished together even more when he read aloud the next item, "Sour cream?"

"It's for a new dessert I'm making." Kitty informed but Red's facial expression continued to show his uncertainty, so she smiled and assured him, "You'll love it."

Red's scowl faded lightly at Kitty's reassurance before he read the last item written on the paper in the elegant cursive writing, "Bread. Kitty, you don't need a loaf of bread for Thanksgiving, you said were gonna use your grandmother's recipe for the dinner rolls."

Nodding her head she explained, "I am. I need the bread for the stuffing. The half of the loaf I have now won't make enough for everyone to get a serving. Of course, I wouldn't need bread if someone didn't want toast with last nights' dinner."

A groan escaped Red's lips as Kitty threw a pointed look his way; this was one of those rare moments when Red found himself wishing his wife didn't make just about everything from scratch. Naturally Red knew it wouldn't best to share that thought with her—he'd regret it later, especially because he didn't mean it—so he went back to trying to make Kitty see that a trip to the store was really unnecessary.

"Fine, then don't give any to the grandkids. Then maybe this year we won't have any of it flying around the dining room." Red shared and the paused suddenly as another thought crossed his mind, he looked back up at his wife, "You better keep it away from the foreigner and the kettlehead too."

Kitty changed her pointed glare to a warning one, "Red…"

"Kitty, I…I don't even understand how this is supposed to make things 'better.'" He said as he moved his arm up and down a little as he spoke his mind.

"Well you said the game wasn't a good one and so if you went to the grocery store you wouldn't have to watch it at all. And I would get the things I need to finish dinner." Kitty said ending with a proud grin, a grin her husband did not return.

"Kitty, I don't wanna go to the grocery store on Thanksgiving Day." he groaned, "I've already been through two wars. Isn't that enough."

Fighting back a smile Kitty grabbed the list from Red, looking it over to make sure she didn't forget anything; of course she didn't tell him that.

"Honey, it won't be that bad." She tried to assure, eyes still fixated on the paper, "I'd go myself but I need to keep an eye on the food I have cooking now."

"Then why don't you send one of the spare dumbasses in the basement?" Red asked and then added, "Make them useful for something."

Sighing softly, Kitty looked up from the list, "Red, I can't send any of the kids. Half of them would come back with the wrong things and the other half would get lost and not come back at all."

"Send the second half." Red retorted without missing a beat.

"Red."

"I can't go to the store now, Kitty, I'm watching the game." Red declared as he gestured towards the television.

Kitty moved her hands back onto her hips, "A game that 'your team' isn't playing in and the team you're going for isn't even winning."

With a grimace look on his face, Red realized he should have caught on to what she was doing from the beginning when she came in and started asking him about the game. However, instead of wasting time kicking himself about the past Red knew it would be better if he concentrated on the future and making sure that him paying a visit to the grocery store was nowhere in the near future.

"That doesn't mean I don't wanna watch the game." Red argued against his wife, "It's Thanksgiving and watching football is a Thanksgiving tradition."

For several seconds Kitty stared at her husband with eyebrows knitted loosely together and determination written on her face, but after taking some time to replay his words, the intense glare softened and Kitty lowered her arms as she took her hands off her hips.

"I guess that is true."

"It is?" Red asked both sounding and looking suspicious; Kitty usually never gave up that easily.

"Mm-hmm. Tradition is important." Kitty stated with a nod as she headed back into the kitchen—Red's wary eyes flowing her form—but then suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned back around to face Red, "You know, I think I may start a new tradition this year. The tradition of me 'accidently' forgetting to make my special yams."

Right away the suspicion in Red's eyes disappeared and he just sat in his seat watching as he wife smiled smugly back at him. Seconds later he held in a sigh as he pushed himself out of his comfortable armchair.

"Give me the damn list." He muttered as he snatched the list from his still grinning wife and marched his way off to the driveway.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **Well there it is Chapter 6 of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" Sorry it was so short but I hope you still liked it!_

_So how far in advance do you all do your Thanksgiving shopping? We still haven't done ours but we tend to leave things till the last minute, makes some memorable memories though :D_

_Remember if you want me to post the next chapter soon don't forget to review…kinda sorta rhymes…never mind lol_

_Until next time, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, see you next Thursday, take care, remember on seven more days till Thanksgiving, and have a nice day!_


	9. Stuffing

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note:** Hello Everyone! How are you? Hope you all are doing well! So can you all believe it, we're already on the week of thanksgiving! And I've got an early update…well sorta early. I did already plan on posting before Thanksgiving but this time I actually did! So exciting! Well it is for me especially after what happened last year. And so before we go on into the chapter just wanted to say a few things. First off sorry again for the short chapter last time, and for not posting over the weekend like I thought I would, it took a lot more time than I thought for me to get over my cold. But I'm much better now! So thank you all for your well wishes! And thank you so very much for your always so lovely reviews. They mean so very much to me! Big hugs and Fresh snickerdoodles for you all! I really am so glad you all are enjoying the story that surprise guest is ALMOST here! Really! Hoping to update again sometime soon if not thanksgiving day I an guarantee there will be a new chapter posted :D Well I'll go ahead and cut this short. Thanks again for everything everyone! Hope you like this chapter! Don't forget to review! And Enjoy!_

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"Why did you even let Luke bring that game contraption thingy?" Jackie asked aloud while scowling at the scene of her children—along with her nieces and nephews—rotting their brains away thanks to some distorted turtles.

Eric's own eyebrows inched closer together as he turned to his adopted brother's wife, "Game contraption thingy, Grandma? That's a NES. A Nintendo Entertainment system."

"Sorry." Jackie muttered before tossing in a quick eye roll and a "Nerd."

Donna didn't even try to hide the smile that made its way to her face as she watched the banter between her husband and her best friend; she continued to wear it as she began to answer Jackie's earlier question.

"We didn't. Well not exactly." She started to explain, "Luke hid it under his coat and we didn't know he had it until we got to the back porch here."

"And not one of you could walk across _the driveway_ to take it back to your house? Or even send Luke to do it?" Hyde questioned with his arms crossed over his broad chest.

Hyde's question caused both Donna and Eric to look at one another and exchange looks before turning back to their curly haired friend.

"Well it was cold outside and snowing…" Eric answered ignoring the eye roll that came from his sister, "plus we had already locked the door."

With a nod of her head Donna decided to add on to her husband's explanation, "Yeah, and I thought it was a pretty good idea. Figured it would keep the kids entertained and out of our hair…I never thought it would come to…_this._"

At that moment the six member group standing in the basement—behind the beat up old sofa, between the shower curtain and the staircase—huddled together making a semicircular shape, turned their gaze over to the seating area of the basement. The area where they always sat but where their children had seized and taken over today.

None of the six looked very happy as they watched the younger group sit mutely in _their_ seats while watching the glowing TV screen as if they were each in their own little trance. The two married couples frowned with hints of anger and resentment while Brooke seemed a bit puzzled, perhaps thinking up a solution, and Laurie looked more annoyed than anything else.

"I still don't understand why you big babies are making such a huge thing about this." Laurie said, her irritation with the current situation showing in both her eyes and voice, "So the kids have taken over your precious basement, so what?"

Eric smiled and let out a slight chuckle as he shook his head with amusement, "Oh, Laurie, Laurie, Laurie. It's okay. You can admit it now."

"Admit what, Twiggy?" she asked with a snarl but her brother dismissed the insult and continued to grin while looking back at her with an almost sympathetic stare.

"That you're jealous. Because unlike the rest of us…well except for Brooke…sorry, Brooke." said Eric to the librarian, who merely raised up an understanding hand, then swung his head back to his sister to finish his point, "You never got to really hang out in this basement when you were growing up and so you never got the complete basement experience."

"Oh yeah, I'm really jealous." Laurie scoffed her retort.

A proud smile appeared on Eric's lips, "Glad to hear you admit."

"I knew me pushing you off the couch when you were a baby would come back to haunt me" Laurie mumbled to herself but making it loud enough for those around her to hear, "And besides you didn't need to be in this stupid, boring, dingy basement to get the 'complete basement experience.' You just needed one of Hyde's brown paper bags."

"Yeah well…you…" Eric struggled for a good comeback having been thrown off by having heard his Batcave be called ding, boring, and stupid, "You're stupid. Which is one of the reason you weren't allowed in the Batcave…eh basement."

Laurie rolled her colored eyes with annoyance, "Like I even wanted to. I hung out at much better places than this dump."

Not wanting to see his brother struggle again to come up with a good comeback—mostly because it was just pathetic—Hyde decided to step in and help defeat their she-devil sister.

"Yeah, like the back room at _Naked Nuddies_." He spoke up in his Zen manner.

Pushing her weight to one side and slightly tucking her chin downwards, Laurie glared at her adopted brother, "No. That was your mom's favorite hangout place."

The silence that came from Hyde confused Brooke some and so she decided to voice the thought in her head.

"Hyde, aren't you going to say anything to that?"

"Nah. No sense in denying the truth." Hyde replied with a shrug as his wife ran a caring hand over his bicep but at the same time was trying to disguise the disgusted look on her face, he then turned towards Laurie, "Good game."

While Laurie was busy grinning victoriously and Eric stared at Hyde with a look saying 'How the hell could you let Laurie win?' Donna knitted her brows closer together and continued to watch her son and his friends while trying to come up with some plan to get them away from that damn game…or take the game somewhere that wasn't the basement. But she was drawing a blank.

"There's gotta be something that'll get them out of here." The redhead said with a sigh, hoping her friends would help with their own brainstorming.

Jackie shook her head, "I already tried paying them fifteen dollars each and they turned it down. It's hopeless."

"Yeah. Mom said she was gonna give it another shot in trying to get them to go upstairs." Hyde began to share, looking down at his leather-band watch and then back up again, "But it's been awhile now, she might've just went back to fixing dinner."

Solemnly the group—at least more than half of the group—sustained their stares in the direction of the scene in front of them. Then a sudden thought crept into one of the group members mind and the wrinkles created by his frown diminished as a understanding expression crossed his face.

"You guys, maybe this is it." Eric said in a rather calm tone of voice, "I mean we had a lot of good times down here. Made a lot of great memories. But maybe it's time for us to let our kids make their own memories here…time for us to… pass on the torch."

Eric's words had a lot of weight in them and after he said them the room became still with the only noises being the arcade-sounding music coming from the kids' game. No one knew quite what to say, they couldn't say they never saw it coming because they knew it would happen eventually…but not now. Eventually. Like in the future, way into the future. However, before more sadness could fill the adults who cherished this old basement in their hearts, a call from the upper floor echoed in the room.

"Kids! Your Grandpa Red had to go to the store to pick up a few things for me, so that means the living room TV is free and you all can up here and play your mutant turtle game!" Kitty informed in such a happy tone of voice, you could almost hear her bright smile.

At Kitty's announcement Eric's theory became a thing of the past—the forgotten past—and the parents rushed over to where their immobile children remained seated. And despite the conclusion that he'd made only seconds ago about needing to move on from the basement, Eric was the first one on the other side of the couch with kids followed by Jackie, Donna, Hyde, and then Brooke and even Laurie. Brooke knew this basement was important to her husband and their friends and Laurie went over to make sure she got a good seat; her feet were killing her from standing so long.

"Alright kids, you heard Grandma Kitty. Let's go _up_stairs!" Eric said while moving his arms in a swoosh like movement from where the kids were seated to the basement stairs.

None of the kids moved.

Donna sighed a slight frustrated sigh as she saw her husband drop his arms back to his side, and then turned to their son who was still the one with the game control glued to his palms, "Luke, come on. Pause the game and take it up to the living room. Your grandma is waiting for you all."

"Ok Mom. Just…just a second." Luke Forman said as he continued to play the video game which caused his mother to scowl though he never even noticed it.

Luke's sidekick, DJ then spoke up—his eyes remaining on the TV screen "Yeah. Just let him finish this last level."

"He's almost done!" Mikey added with true Kelso excitement.

"You don't know that." Mandy pointed out, sounding like her own mother.

DJ's sister nodded along with her best friend's words, "That's true."

"We've never been this far into the game." The eldest of the group informed.

This explained why not one of the children's eyes had even drifted off the screen for a second and why the older kids, seated on the sofa and chairs, were sitting so close to the edge of their seats and the younger ones on the floor seemed to be scooting closer and closer to the set. It almost made their parents feel bad, pushing them out of the room and away from their game just so they could sit in the regular spots.

Maybe they would let them finish at least one more level. After all the kids did all look were so excited to see what would happen next, what new challenges would have to faced, if they would finally be able to find and save Splinter! Then just as Raphael was about to defeat the last enemy that could be seen something happened to the screen that none of the younger ones saw coming. Pitch blackness.

"Oops." Jackie said innocently to the wide-eyed, jaw dropped, children as she held one of the game systems wires in her hand, "It looks like you guys had a loose wire. Better make sure that doesn't happen again when you set the game up in the living room."

Wearing a proud smirk Hyde reached over and retrieved the wire from his wife and handed it over to his still shell-shocked looking son.

It took a few minutes but the young members of the family did get up from their seats and make their way up the wooden staircase—making sure to bring the NES of course. They took the first steps sluggishly, still disappointed and grieving the loss of all the work that had been put in on the game before Jackie literally pulled the plug; however before they reached the top stairs an idea popped into one of their minds and they realized starting the game over meant starting the game over including the order of turns. The group left the room shouting over each other about it being their turn next.'

Once the area was cleared out the adults wasted no time in making themselves comfortable in their usual spots, with Eric practically jumping onto the couch and into his spot.

"Good thinking, grasshopper." Hyde praised his wife with a smirk as he sat in his chair, keeping one hand on her hip.

Smiling Jackie sat herself in her regular spot—his lap—and gave him a quick peck on lips and a cheerful, "Thank you!"

Still smiling from the actions of her own husband, Donna turned her head over to the right side of the room by the deep freeze and laundry appliances where Fez and Kelso stood looking deep in thought and mumbling things to one another at a volume only they could hear. The only thing the others could get out of what was going on was the few mumbles and the nodding of heads before one of the two men scribbled something down on their notepad.

"You guys, we got the basement back." Donna told the duo, "You can come sit over here now."

Without turning around Kelso started to wave his arm in a shooing away motion, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll be there in a minute."

"Yes, can't you see we are in the middle of a breakdown?" Fez asked sounding both hurt and angry, making the others thing there was a fifty fifty chance he had mixed up breakthrough with breakdown.

"You know, I'm starting to get a little more worried now." Brooke revealed to Laurie who had seated herself in the old lawn chair.

The blonde frowned, "Why?"

"Because well…because…" Brooke started to struggle a bit, she felt guilty about what she was about to say but at the same time knew there was no better way to put it, "It's my idiot that's writing things down now, not yours."

"Don't worry about it." came Laurie's reply though when she saw the still concern look on her friend's face she knew she had to elaborate, "Look, your idiot is still handing everything back to my idiot right? Well in a few minutes I'll go over there and ask Fez if he's up for some mattress dancing and when he gets excited he gets distracted so with him not paying attention I'll just rip out the paper Kelso was writing on so I'll they'll have is Fez's chicken scratch. And then after that…well I'd stay away from my old room for the next hour or so."

Looks of repulse were worn on Laurie's audience—excluding Brooke, who just looked relieved to hear there was a plan to keep one of her husband's crazy plans from happening—but she only smiled an iniquity smile in their direction.

Still trying to get over his sister's comment about 'mattress dancing' Eric shook his head in disgust before turning to his brother and forcing a fake grin onto his lips.

"Hyde, don't we just have the _best _sister in the world?"

0o0o0o

With a deeply indented, un-amused, anything but happy scowl on his face and his hands gripped so tightly on to steering wheel, one would think he was strangling a commie, Red Forman drove through the Piggly Wiggly parking lot for what felt like the thousandth time. Almost every parking space in lot was filled! There were a handful of space that didn't have vehicle parked in the center of it and instead had either the left or the right side of another vehicle crossing over the white painted line, not even giving enough space for the orange Toyota to squeeze in.

Part of Red didn't even want to know what kind of idiot would be dumb enough to not know you are supposed to park between both the damn line and part of him want to see each and every one of them so he could give them all a good hard kick in the ass. Most especially the dumbass who parked their dumbass '86 Mustang right smack in the middle of two parking spots!

Driving—though Red didn't consider it driving anymore especially since he saw that eighty year old lady push her basket beside his vehicle and then proceeding to pass him up—through another row of parked cars Red tried desperately to find an open space.

Then suddenly one magically appeared!

Quickly Red decided to pick up the speed a little. There was no way he was losing this parking space and then having to spend another fifteen minutes looking for another. He was closing up the distance between him and the opening, getting closer and closer…but just as he was about to turn into the slot the sight before Red had him slamming on the break and letting out a curse word.

A small yellow Volkswagen Beatle was already parked in the parking space but had driven up so much into the space it had left an rather large gap in the back, giving the allusion of an empty parking slot from far away.

"Dumbass." Red muttered as he turned out of the row and got ready to enter into another one.

However just as Red was about to turn into the next line, he drove past the front of market catching the glimpse of a man in his mid-thirties or so exiting the store with a brown grocery bag in his arms. From what Red could see it was a overfilled bag that had a loaf of bread sticking out from the top and then an thought sprang into Red's mind.

He knew it was a long shot idea…he didn't even know what else was in that paper bag. And thinking over the idea, it actually sounded like one that one of the dumbasses would have come up with but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Red slowed down the Toyota again and outstretched his right arm to roll down the passenger window while still keeping one hand on the wheel.

"Hey…dumbass!" he called out, he was too aggravated to even care about the slip.

The man looked up and over at Red.

'The dumbass answers to dumbass?' Red thought with a scowl, 'Maybe this won't be such a long shot after all.'

"I'll give you fifty dollars for that bag." Red offered as the man neared the Toyota.

The leaving shopper smiled and shook his head, "No thanks. There's no way I'm going back in there!" he looked at his watch and then grinned, "Looks like I'll be able to catch the second half of the game after all!"

Red raised his eyebrows an inch or two, feeling hopeful that maybe this wouldn't take as long as he thought, "You left during half time too?"

"I wish." He snorted, "I've been here since ten this morning. Happy Thanksgiving and good luck, man!"

After dashing the small hope that Red had left the man walked back to his own car and with a deep heavy sigh Red began to circle around the parking lot once again.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **And that my friends is Chapter 7 of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" Hope you liked!_

_So have any of you ever had to do any last minute grocery shopping because somebody forgot that one thing that never seemed so important until it was forgotten?_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, see you next time, have a nice day, and remember only 3 more days till Thanksgiving! (And we have yet to do ANY shopping! Yes, yes I am worried lol)_


	10. Cranberry Sauce

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **Hello everyone! Okay first off let me say I am so so so SO very sorry that I didn't update on Thanksgiving. I can't tell you how terrible I fell about that. I really wanted to post this chapter, heck any chapter really on that day because well it was Thanksgiving and the story takes place on Thanksgiving. But I guess it wasn't meant to be. See I got bust helping out with the fixing of the dinner but still had done more than half of the chapter, I figured if worse came to worse I would post another short chapter just to make sure I posted something! But then when I came to my laptop to work on the chapter some more my USB had gone crazy and deleted everything! I lost a bunch of stuff—luckily recovered most from saving on actual computer and such—but that included this chapter. This, the first half is actually a rewritten so I hope you all will still enjoy it. I really hope you all will forgive me for not posting on Thanksgiving. I really am so very sorry. I do also want to take a minute to say thank you to all of you for your amazing reviews, they really mean so much, you all are so awesome! You wonderful readers are among the many things I am thankful for. Warm chocolate chip cookies for all of you! Really hope you enjoy this chapter, it's longer than the others because I felt bad about not posting on Thanksgiving and because…well you'll see! Okay now I'm sure you're pretty curious now so go on, Enjoy!_

* * *

Upstairs in the Forman living room the children had wasted no time in setting up their game again. Though at first they had been a little hesitant, worried that their grandfather was still somewhere in the house and there was no way he'd be a fan of them turning off his football game to play their own video game; but after their Grandma Kitty had assured them once again that Red wasn't there—and then sending Katie into the kitchen to make sure the Toyota was missing from the driveway—they went back to untangling and connecting the various wires so they could begin their game.

Once the wires were securely plugged into the TV and the game was locked into it the game system, the eight kids once again blocked out everything and anything that wasn't related to Ninja Turtles or cheat codes to help them complete the game.

Mesmerized by the glowing set, neither of the children notice their grandma come into the room with a plate full of cookies and a large smile on her face. That smile, however, vanishing the moment she noticed that the scene before her was the exact same scene she'd witness down in the basement!

"No, no, no." she said with a shake of her head while stepping farther into the room, "What are you doing?"

"Playing Ninja Turtles." Luke replied, his gaze fixated on the pixel image of Ninja Turtle Michelangelo.

Kitty scowled, "But I thought you were playing that downstairs."

"Yeah and now we're playing it upstairs." The youngest Kelso answered as if it were the most obvious thing which made Kitty's scowl deepen but before she could say a word another one of her grandchildren spoke up.

"Yeah…" DJ agreed though only half listening to the conversation after all his attention had to be focused on the game, he was the one currently playing, "Hey Grandma, can you let us know if Mom is coming into the room."

Curiosity filled Kitty as she watched her grandson with game controller in his hand squirm and twist in his seat as he played the video game.

"Why?"

"She unplugged the game earlier; shutting the game down and making us loose all the data." Betsy explained quickly.

At first, hearing about her daughter-in-law's actions impressed Kitty and she raised bother eyebrows with interest, she actually even considered repeating the act or at least coming up with one that had the same idea and results—putting an end to the grandchildren-stealing-game. However at the last minute, Kitty decided against it and swung her head back and forth to erase the thought from her mind, deciding to take a different approach.

"Ok, I'll do that." Kitty started to say, getting ready to make her negotiation, "But you all have to take a break…even if it's a little one…from this turtle game and dear, old, grandmother. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Alright Grandma."

"Sure, okay."

"Yeah, alright."

And other similar words were the responses that Kitty received from the group and it made her bright smile quickly reappear; but like the old saying goes, 'Actions speak louder than words' and the children's actions were definitely going against the agreement they made with their grandmother. They continued to sit immobile in their seats watching the darn TV screen! This of course made Kitty very unhappy to see, yet, as she looked over the scene in front of her another old saying entered her thoughts. 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'

With a small sigh Kitty placed the plate of cookies on the coffee table and then began to walk around the back of couch. Making conversation about the game and trying to understand it would probably be the only way that she would be able to get her grandchildren to participate in an actual, engaging, conversation with her. Well there was another way, but she couldn't even begin to think of how one would dress up as one of those mutant turtles.

Kitty made her way through the small walking space between the sofa and table; walking in front of her grandchildren as she did so and causing them to swing the head back and forth to keep their view on the television unblocked. It was an action that didn't go unnoticed by Kitty but was one that she ignored. Though most of seats on the couch were taken, Kitty still managed to make room for herself by lifting up her youngest grandson from where he was seated, sitting in his spot and then placing him back down on to her lap.

"Alright." She began with a small sigh, sadden that it had actually come to this, "What's this game about again?"

"It's The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Game…like the TV show." DJ explained as he pressed down on several of the controller's buttons.

Luke threw a small kick in the air as Michelangelo in the video game did the same thing, "It takes place in the sewers of New York City…"

"The sewers of New York City?" Kitty repeated but in a more questioning tone, then let an understanding look come onto her face as she shrugged "Well I suppose that's why's they're mutants."

"And ninjas!" Ricky happily added from his seat on Kitty's lap.

Kitty released a giggled and hugged the boy closer to her, "Yes and Ninjas."

"There're six different missions." Rebecca began to explain, "Right now we're on the first one since Mom made us lose everything from the last game."

"In this mission the turtles have to save April O'Neil from Bebop and Rocksteady." Mandy added in some more information.

"Ooh!" Kitty said, actually starting to pay closer attention to the rules and story of the game; maybe it wasn't so bad. "So it's like in the fairytales where knights…well now they're ninja and…turtles… save the princess from the bad guys."

"Kinda. Except April isn't a princess." Luke answered in a matter of fact tone that sounded much like his father's when he discussed Star Wars, "She's a news reporter for Channel 6 news on the cartoon but in the comics she's a computer programmer and was Baxtar's assistant."

Nodding and frowning just slightly, Kitty tired to follow along with what she was being told.

Mikey grinned the goofy-Kelso smile, "I don't care what her job is. She's hot."

"You're so weird." Mandy spat out with a snarl, "You're in love with a cartoon character."

"So? You're in love with a cartoon Character who's a turtle. Who's the weird one now?" Mikey fired back.

"Now kids…"Kitty started to say, not wanting to see any fighting on Thanksgiving, when suddenly she stopped mid sentence as her eye caught something on the game's image on the TV "What is that?"

"That's pizza." DJ replied as he made his ninja turtle jump in the air and over his enemy and then picking up the slice of pizza Kitty had pointed out, "It restores the turtles' health."

Kitty frowned again, "Oh well that's just not right. What kind of example is that giving to you kids? Pizza does not restore health…it's not a vegetable."

"That's all The Turtles eat." Becky informed, eyes remaining on the TV.

"So all you do is fight these bad guys until you reach…April and then save her?" Kitty asked after taking a few seconds to remember the 'damsel in distress's' name.

DJ nodded, "Yeah, but these guys are like…the guards." He explained trying to keep it in terms that his grandmother would understand instead of Fire Freaks and Mousers, "After we fight them we have to fight the main guys Bebop and Rocksteady."

The room slowly drifted back into its soundless—except for the video game music from the television—as Kitty too began to get suck up into the adventure of the game. Silently the nine pairs of eyes watched the screen watching as the teenage ninja turtle that DJ was controlling, flipped and kicked and threw a few of his weapons to defeat his enemies. A minute or two passed before the stillness of the room was brought to an end.

"Ok well let me try." Kitty said suddenly in a happy and excited tone of voice.

Her grandchildren though did not have similar reactions. Gradually they each turned their heads, almost at the same time, to look at Kitty wearing either small frowns or looks with surprised raised eyebrows. Seeing the kids reactions made Kitty frown looking more upset than hurt.

"What?" she asked, "You don't think your grandma can play a simple video game."

"No." they all replied without missing a beat.

Kitty's scowl deepened as she lifted her youngest grandson from her lap and then turned to her grandson with the game controller, reaching out her open palm and ordering, "Give me the remote."

Not sure of what to do, mostly because he wasn't sure if his grandma had meant the game controller that she kept referring to as a remote or the TV remote so she could change the channel, DJ cautiously passed the game controller over. Like the rest of his cousins, DJ wasn't a fan of giving up the game so easily but he'd heard stories of what the adults referred to as 'Menopause Kitty' and he didn't want to see that in person.

Once Kitty had the rectangular shaped controller in her hands she looked down at it with much puzzlement, "Alright…which buttons do I press?"

"This one is to jump…"Luke started to inform, leaning over to point out each button and their purpose, "This one to run. And this one to duck. To throw you press that one."

"Okay, okay."Kitty said, ready to begin her turn with the game.

Watching her grandchildren play the video game…they made it look so easy; Kitty had truly thought when she started to play she would be able to get into as much as the kids and be just as good at it. Unfortunately that wasn't what happened and reality hit a lot quicker than Kitty had expected.

This Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game was _not_ as easy as it looked or sounded. Kitty was having a hard time recalling which buttons were for which, she pressed the red button thinking it was to run but instead ended up punching the nonexistent enemy. And keeping her eye on the TV screen while also keep track of which buttons she was pressing was no picnic either. Then of course there was that added bonus of the 'cheers' coming from her grandchildren that only seemed to confuse Kitty even more. The room was filled with shouts as the young group talked over each other pointing at the TV screen and throwing their own punches and kicks.

"Jump! Jump! You've gotta jump!"

"Get the pizza!"

"Press the arrow button! No not that one the other one!"

"You're losing your health!"

"Watch out for that guy over there!'

And other exclamations came from the children as Kitty frantically tried to keep up with what they were saying and try to follow their orders…um suggestions. The room was getting louder and louder, you couldn't even hear the video games music that is until a certain unhappy tone played and the room became silent once again as Kitty and the children stared at the screen with unreadable expressions.

"Wow." Rebecca said breaking the silence, "I never saw someone go through their health so fast."

Her twin brother nodded, "Yeah, I didn't even know you could die like that."

"I didn't even know The Turtles could trip!" Mikey added in with excitement for some reason—he was Kelso's kid.

"That…that was just a practice turn." Kitty weakly defended herself, not ready to give up the controller or the game just yet, "Start it over and I'll try again."

"Actually it's Katie's turn, Grandma. You'd have to make sure it was okay with her first." Luke informed Kitty.

Wasting no time at all, Kitty turned to her youngest grandchild who was sitting on the floor playing black strap of her mary jane shoes until she heard her name and her head shot up and bright innocent smile emerged onto her little face. Kitty returned the smile to her namesake and thought that getting her granddaughter to give up her turn would be a piece of cake.

"Katie, sweetie." The elder woman began to speak in a soft, cooing like voice, "Can Grandma play another turn and then you can play after me?"

"No." the little girl replied firmly as she crossed her arms over her chest—the stubbornness of her parents shinning through.

Kitty's facial expression showed her surprise but she did not give up just yet, "Well what if I give you a cookie."

The tiny girl shook her head again, "No."

"How about two cookies?" Kitty suggested.

And just like that Katie's big smile returned to her face and she nodded joyfully, "Okay!"

Happy to have been able to reach an agreement with the young girl Kitty smiled and let out a small giggle before reaching over and grabbing two cookie off the plate she'd brought into the room, and then handing them to Katie—who'd quickly but at the same time graciously taken them. Katie's actions made Kitty's giggle go on even longer, however it came to a stop the second she felt the controller being taken out of her hands. Frowning a puzzled frown Kitty turned to her right and saw her grandson with the remote in his hands.

"I'm starting the game over, Grandma." Luke explained to Kitty as she felt her curious eyes upon him, "Look you can choose which turtle you want to play. Who do you want to be?"

Kitty stared at the screen for a few seconds, studying it carefully, before giving her answer, "Oh, I'll be the girl Turtle."

"There's not girl turtle." Betsy voiced the thought in most her cousin's minds.

"The one right there." came Kitty's reply as she gestured towards the TV, "Wearing the purple bandana. Isn't that a girl?"

"No, Grandma, that's Donatello. He's a boy." clarified DJ, after he'd let out a sigh, "It's Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael."

Luke decided to repeat his question, "Who do you want to be?"

"Well…" she started to say, drifting off a little as she thought over her choices, "I guess Michelangelo. I've always loved those ceiling paintings that he did."

Nodding his head Luke began to click the bottom arrow until he reached the square with Michelangelo's image and was about to make the final section when a disappointed tone coming from his grandmother stopped him from clicking the confirming button.

"Oh wait he's not the one in blue?" she asked sounding almost saddened, "I was hoping he was. It's such a pretty color."

Kitty's statement caused several different reactions from her grandkids. Some dropped their heads into their hands, or just shut their eyes closed, others held in their giggles, and there were even two of them who nodded their heads in agreement.

0o0o0o

"Hey, you guys think we took the turkey up on the roof and just kinda pushed it out off it would fly like when the parents kick the baby birds out of the next to teach them how to fly?" Michael Kelso asked the group sitting in the basement as he and his foreign friend stepped out of their 'office' and over to the seating area—nether one looking like their joyful, goofy selves and instead looking frustrated and tried.

Hyde frowned as he looked over at the tall man standing a few feet away from him, "Seriously, man? That's the best idea you've got?"

"Well you try coming up with an idea to make a dead turkey fly, Hyde! God!" came the outraged reply from Kelso, along with the angry frown he sent Hyde's way.

With a sad pout and a nod of his head Fez dropped himself into the space next to his wife on the couch, "It is not easy."

"Aww, Fezzie Bear." Laurie cooed gently while patting her husband's head that he leaned against her shoulder, after a few seconds though, a mischievous smile faded onto her face, "I know something that'll cheer you up."

"I'll give you a hundred dollars if you don't say 'mattress dancing." Eric practically begged which made Fez scowl with confusion first looking at his brother-in-law and then at his wife.

"How does he know about out nickname for the horizontal tango?" he asked but Laurie merely shrugged while fighting off the grin that started to form when she heard her brother groan with apparent annoyance.

Not wanting to know more any more details about what her friends did behind closed doors—over the years, she'd already learned and seen more than she needed too, closed doors didn't mean they were always locked doors—Brooke made the decision to change the subject back to the topic her husband had brought up just a few seconds ago. She looked up and saw her husband still standing in his spot with his arms crossed over his chest looking like a small child who had just been told he couldn't have candy for breakfast.

"Michael, honey," she began to say, "maybe you not being able to come up with a way to make a turkey fly means you shouldn't make a turkey…our thanksgiving meal…fly, today."

"But…but it's our Thanksgiving shenanigan." Kelso answered in an almost heartbroken tone.

"Well maybe you should spend some time with us and just skip the shenanigans this holiday season. Would that really be so terrible?" Brooke questioned, this time making her voice sound more firm than before.

"Yes! God, Brooke! It's like you don't even know me!" came her husband's dramatic response.

Kelso was even about to flop himself onto the old sofa in a tantrum like form but stopped when he saw there wasn't any space to do so, and instead settle for angrily sitting himself down on the couch's arm, his own arms remaining tightly folded over his chest and unhappy, offended gazed pointed downwards at the floor of the basement.

Donna cracked a smile at the actions of her friend before she spoke up to ask him a question, "Why don't you guys just come up with another shenanigan?"

Together Kelso and Fez stopped their sulking and looked over at Donna, staring at her for a few seconds, and then turned their heads to face one another before bursting out with laughter. This made the redhead scowl with a mix of anger and perplexity, and the looks on the additional occupants of the room weren't that far off either.

"Oh Donna, Donna, Donna." Fez said while grinning and slowly shaking his head back and forth, "That is a good one."

Kelso's dopey grin was in place as he added more, "Yeah. You can't just come up with another shenanigan just like that!"

The foreign man stopped moving his head from left to right and changed the direction to up and down before speaking, "Yes, it takes a lot of thinking, and brainstorming, and planning, and…and…" suddenly Fez's thoughts got off track and another idea came into his mind; an idea he wasted no time in sharing with his best buddy, "We should write a children's book!"

Watching the reaction in front of hem the group of friends weren't sure if it was because of the excited tone that Fez used or if it was the actual thought that he'd shared but something had made their kettlehead friend jump up from his seat and light up his face like a child's—or like his face—on Christmas morning.

"Fez! That's an awesome idea!" Kelso just about shouted.

Fez beamed with pride, "Thank you, thank you."

"Yeah, Fez, that's a great idea." Eric complimented in tone that sounded almost bitter, "Just like it was a great idea when I came up with it."

Both men furrowed their brows at the claim Eric made. They looked to be searching their brains, as if trying to remember their friend making the suggestion before now…though if that what they were actually doing—and not just scrunching their faces up with puzzlement—would never really be known. Seconds passed as Fez and Kelso continued to wear their pondering expression before they once again turned to look at each other then back at the person who was talking to them. Simultaneously they shook their heads, showing their disagreement with the statement.

"I do not recall that." Fez stated in a high and mighty tone of voice.

And of course Kelso began to back him up, "Me neither."

"What?" screeched a surprised Eric, he wore an outraged frown but had his eyes still wide, filled with the shock of his friends stealing his idea and not giving him the credit, "How can you guys not remember? It wasn't even that long ago…" he began to argue but then realized he may do better if he had some of his own back up; he turned to his adopted brother, "Hyde, you remember me giving them that idea earlier right?"

Hyde smirked; he remembered yeah, but agreed with Eric so quickly wasn't as fun as messing with him for a bit, "Sorry, man doesn't ring a bell."

"Hyde, man, what the hell? You've gotta remember!" Eric proclaimed then went on to paint a picture to hopefully jog of the curly haired man's memory back, "We were upstairs in the living room. We…well _you_ were watching the game with Dad and then these guys came in…you suggested they fry a turkey!"

"Steven!" Jackie scolded and proceeded to deliver a sharp smack on to her husband's chest.

"Ow! Jackie…what was that for?"

The brunette crossed her arms over chest, but stayed in her seat on his lap, the content look that she usually wore when seated there was nowhere to be found, "You made the suggestion to fry a turkey to Michael and Fez! Don't you know how dangerous that is?"

"Jackie, relax." Hyde tried, "It's not like I suggested it to our kids."

"I'd trust our kids more to fry a turkey than these two." Jackie stated as she waved her hand in the directions of where Fez and Kelso were.

Kelso, having not been paying much attention to what his ex-girlfriend and her husband were yapping on about, switched things back to finding out who really came up with the writing a children's book idea first.

"You know," Kelso began to say in a suspicious tone, "I think Eric saying he came up with the idea first is like when said he was a cool teacher."

"I _am_ a cool teacher!" Eric quickly argued; he was clearly getting more and more upset which had made some of the people hold back their laughs. He didn't see them though and instead turned to his wife, "Donna, tell them that I'm a cool teacher! Tell them how many Christmas gifts I got from my students last year! Both homemade and store bought."

Donna laughed softly at how wired up her husband appeared at the moment, "Eric, you are a 'cool' teacher." A smile sprung on Eric's lip but before he could get a word out, Donna continued with her thought, "But I wouldn't base that on how many Christmas gifts your students gave you."

"Donna, there were twenty eight gifts and I had twenty six kids in that class." He reminded before Jackie cut in.

"Yeah and more than half of those were probably given to you so you would raise up their grades."

"What? No! No that's not how it works." Eric protested, not wanting to believe what he'd heard, "Kids given presents to their favorite teachers, the cool teachers…Brooke, don't you get Christmas gifts from some of the students?"

Brooke nodded as she began her answer, "Well yeah…"

"See and she don't have anything to do with grades!" Eric pointed out to his friends and family in the room, proud to have proven them wrong…or at least thinking he had until Brooke finished her response.

"But most of them are from kids who have overdue books or fines." She explained then smiled softly, "And I do end up getting clearing up their fines."

"See?" Jackie asked though it was apparent by expression on Eric's face that showed his shock, his hurt, the slightest of confusion…it was like his whole world had changed…it was like when he found out Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father. Things were never going to be the same.

Timidly, Eric shook his head in disbelief, "I…I can't believe this."

"I can't believe you didn't know his before, man.' Hyde commented, wearing a smug smirk.

"Yeah, jeeze Eric." the eldest Forman child piped up, "How do you think I graduated top of my class?"

While Eric's confused, lost little puppy frown turned into one of more disgust, Laurie's husband grinned largely when he heard her words.

"Oo I bet it was because of those scrumptious cupcakes of yours." he said with his best smoldering look, complete with wiggling eyebrows; Laurie returned the smile as her brother's look showed more and more of his repulse, "They are always so very delicious."

"Oh yeah!" Kelso jumped into the conversation, "I've had some of Laurie's cupcakes, they're awesome."

Fez stared at his wife with growing desire, "Yummy."

"Okay that's it! That's just too much information that a brother has to know about his sister! I'm out of here!" Eric nearly exclaimed as he leapt out of his seat and out to his feet, just about ready to make a run for the closest exit however he still had a few more things to say before he left and he lifted up his index finger before making his points to the others.

"And you know what?" he asked, his twitchiness shinning through, "I'll tell you what! I'll tell you two whats. First of all the children's book idea was my idea and second…_I am_ a cool teacher!"

With what he wanted to say now out in the open and wanting to make sure they were the last words to end the argument, Eric marched himself up the basement's wooden stairs. Some of the group members watched Eric leave while other just smiled and shook their heads—though none of them even tried to stop him. Once Eric was out of the room it became quiet, a peaceful kind of quiet, that ended when Donna voiced the question in her mind.

"You guys were talking about actual cupcakes weren't you?"

Fez nodded still grinning a look of hunger, though obviously a different type of hunger than the kind Eric thought he was looking at his sister with, "Yes. Her double chocolaty fudge cupcakes. So tasty."

"Mom taught me how to make them when I was in third grade or something." Laurie shared with a shrug of her shoulders before smiling a ditzy smile, "They earned me an A+ in every class after that."

"Wait a minute. I thought we were talking about Laurie's boobs." Kelso said aloud with a confused expression that soon vanished and was speedily replaced by a look of pain after his wife hit his arm with her open palm.

0o0o0o

"I'm not a cool teacher." Eric repeated his friends words, as he walked into his mother's kitchen, "I'm totally a cool teacher! I'm the Mr. Kotter of fifth grade!"

As Eric continued to mumble to himself and arguing against them—for some reason now that he was in another room from them and minutes had passed he had better comebacks to their statements—he noticed that the kitchen was quiet and empty. Something that it rarely was especially on Thanksgiving. However instead of questioning it, Eric realized this was a perfect opportunity to do a little taste-testing on the food that was ready.

The first dish that caught his eye was a finished dessert that most of the family came back for for seconds and thirds. His mother's special yams.

Carefully stepping closer to the casserole dish that the dessert rested in, Eric made sure to look over his shoulder several time to ensure that he was alone. The last thing he needed was for his mother to catch him sampling the food or worse his father catching him picking at his yams. Yeah, that would definitely get him a foot in the ass.

Once he saw that the coast was clear, Eric inched his hand closer and closer to dessert his eyes set on a toasty mini-marshmallow that was buried deep in the yams but was still sticking out far enough to be able to pull out of the dessert, hopefully with a few pieces of yams stuck to it too. Reaching in for the marshmallow, cautiously, and very very slowly, Eric was a mere centimeter or so away from gasping the treat between his thumb and index finger, when a loud ringing sound startled him making him jump back a good foot or two away from the yams.

Though still a bit shaken up, Eric looked around the room and realized the ringing was coming from the yellow phone on the wall.

He looked around again, this time not out of fear but confusion, he wasn't used to answering this phone; he didn't think he'd answered it since he and Donna moved next door. After all whenever he was over here, everyone else usually was too so there were never too many phone calls made during those times, and other time his mother would just automatically pick up the receiver and find out who was on the other line, his dad sometimes picked up as well but typically after the person gave their name and why they were calling he'd hang it back up.

But Eric didn't know where his mother was and his father was still at the market; he was the only one currently in the room. Forgetting about the yams for now Eric walked over to wall phone and picked up the receiver.

"Hello." Eric said in a careful voice into the mouthpiece of the phone, "Forman Residence."

"Oh thank God." The person on the other line breathed a sigh of relief.

Eric furrowed his brow at what he heard, "Wow. I don't think anyone has responded to those words like that in like…_ever._"

Laughter came from the other end before the explanation, "Sorry I'm just…you have no idea how relieved I am to have gotten in touch with you guys. I mean it's been years since I've called the number I was afraid maybe it had been changed or you all had moved…"

"No, no. We're still here." came Eric's reply before it turned to a more dry tone, "Unfortunately."

What sounded like a giggle filled Eric's ears before the voice, he was trying to recognize spoke up again, "Point Place is a great little town. I mean it wasn't really for me."

"Right, right. Because you moved." Eric said, trying to put the clues the mystery person was giving him together and coming up with a familiar face.

It wasn't working.

"Right. Is…um…is Hyde there by any chance?"

"Um yeah, yeah." He nodded, not realizing that the person asking for Hyde could be a clue to finding out the person's identity, "He's down in the basement with everyone."

"Gee, it sounds like nothing's changed over there!" the person on the other end added in jokingly.

The happy, cheerful voice that this person spoke in made Eric feel guilty. They obviously knew who he was but he couldn't even come up with an image to go along with their voice. Eric knew he could have tried to get more puzzle pieces but eventually with the track record he had, he might just end up making things worse and so he decided to just come out with the truth and hope they weren't too offended.

"I'm sorry." He apologized right off the back, "I'm really trying to put a name and a face to your voice but I just can't. I'm sorry."

"Oh don't worry about it. My voice is usually the last thing people remember about me anyways. I'm…" suddenly the person drifted off as if remembering something, "Wait, where are _my _manners? Happy Thanksgiving…who am I talking to?"

"Eric." Eric answered, no longer feeling too bad about not knowing who it was he was talking to; they didn't know who he was either!

"Eric? Oh, I heard a lot about you. You're Red and Kitty's son, right?"

"That's what my birth certificate says." Eric commented lightheartedly and another laugh was heard, "Wait so you're friends with my parents?'

"Sorta. I'm more of a friend of…well your friends." They informed, "Mostly Hyde and well Donna."

Nodding his head Eric started to ponder over whether this person was someone from high school…or really any other level of school…that had been friends with Hyde and Donna. Someone that they may be had in a class together. Or maybe someone with the radio station or something of the sorts from when Donna was still working at the station and with Hyde having _Grooves_ it was a pretty good possibility. Or maybe they were someone who his wife and brother had met while he was away in Africa. However, before Eric could find out more about this person they began to speak again.

"Look, I'm almost out of change so I'm sorry if this comes out rushed or rude." The person started to say in a sincere tone of voice, "But I was on my way home and my plane got delayed till later tonight. I didn't want to spend Thanksgiving in an overcrowded airport so I took the first bus out of Milwaukee and it was to here, Point Place. I took it as a kind of sign I guess and decided to just go ahead and call. And see if maybe I could stop by for a quick visit…until my plane leaves of course…and maybe even stay…"

"For Thanksgiving Dinner?" Eric finished the sentence for them.

"Yeah." Was the reply along with an unseen nod, "I'm sorry if this sounds just completely crazy. I know it's been years but I remember how close everyone was over there. How you guys were more than friends but family, and your parents were always so welcoming…"

"My _parents_…_welcoming_?" Eric interrupted with a question, he wasn't used to hearing that both his parents were welcoming, "You do mean _Red_ and Kitty Forman right?"

"Yeah."

Eric still wasn't sure, "Reginald and Katherine Forman?"

"I don't really know if those are their full names but it would make sense." The person on the other end replied and then went on to prove that they did in fact know The Formans, "She's a nurse and he has a car shop or something and likes the word dumbass."

"Wow. I don't know if I should be frightened or feel pity on you for thinking Red Forman is a welcoming man." stated Eric and ten heard the other person let out a slight laugh.

"So does that mean I can come?" the question was asked in a tone filled with hope.

"You know what…come on over!" Eric said joyfully, taking after his mother in seeing no problem of having a full house for the holidays, "It's Thanksgiving and no one should be alone on Thanksgiving."

"Oh thank you so much, Eric. I really do appreciate it."

"Hey don't mention it. You said you're a friend of Hyde and Donna's right? And any friend of theirs is a friend of mine…" suddenly Eric realized how true that statement was, "Mainly because we all have the same friends."

"Well thank you again." they repeated.

Eric grinned, "Sure thing. You know how to get here right?"

"Of course."

"Great." Eric nodded and was about to begin his goodbye when it dawned on him, he still didn't know who he was speaking to, or who he had invited over to Thanksgiving dinner. Uh-o. "Um sorry again but I don't think I ever caught your name."

"Oh right! Sorry about that." the bubbly voice replied, "I'm Samantha. But everyone just calls me Sam."

"Sam." He repeated and then replayed in his head a couple more time to see if it rang any bells. Then finally after a few seconds Eric began to speak once more. "Well I guess, we'll see you in a bit then, Sam!"

No bells had been set off by the mention of the name but then again no alarms of danger went off either. She seemed like a nice enough people and it was always great seeing old friends. What could go wrong?

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_**Author's Note: **And that my friends is Chapter 8 of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" Hope you liked!_

_So I gotta ask is that who you all thought the mysterious guess was? How long did it take you to figure it out? Sorry if it was kinda predictable as to who the guest was but I had fun keeping things as a secret for awhile. Of course this doesn't mean the stories over just yet :D_

_How was your Thanksgiving? Did you have any surprise guests?_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, have a nice day, and remember only 358 more days until Thanksgiving!_


	11. Corn on the Cob

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **Hello everyone! Well it's that time of year again! When the leaves are falling, recipes are being looked for, there's pumpkin flavored coffees, and I attempt to finish up this Thanksgiving story that I start back in 2010! Before we star I just want to say if you've clicked on this story and your one of the readers who started reading this story in 2010 or last year…THANK YOU! Thank you for returning and wanting to read more of this story! If you're a new reader or one who recently read the story a few months back I still say THANK YOU! And welcome! :D I truly am I so terribly sorry for not contung this story year long, I jus didn't think it would be right but depending on how well it goes this year I may go ahead and continue the story year long if that's okay with you all. We'll have more discussion about this later though. For now, know that I am very sorry, I thank you all for reading whether you're a new or old reader, I welcome you with open arms! this chapter is a little shorter but the first two may be a little short, just to help me post a little faster. Not gonna tell you my updating plans just yet because I don't wanna disappoint you all again but I will say this, keep your eyes peeled for updates on this story! They're heading your way! Please do review this chapter and any other chapter you like, weather you're a new reader or an old one I would love to hear what you think! And you don't even have to sign in! Okay AN is getting long so, I'll just say once mor,e thank you, I'm sorry, please review if you can, hope you like, and please, Enjoy!_

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Red Forman circled around The Piggly Wiggly parking lot for the umpteenth time. He was almost sure that he had been driving around the darn parking lot for a whole year and it was now Thanksgiving 1991 that he was shopping for; of course it hadn't really been that long and in reality had only been forty five minutes—forty five long minutes that is.

There had been little to no luck in finding an empty space during those forty five minutes. A few times Red had found empty spaces but most of the time they were too far away and by the time he drove the Toyota over there the slot had been filled. Though there had been on incident when he had found a empty parking space only a few yards away from him, he'd nearly claimed the space too when all of a sudden a large, beat up, grey van swooped in out of nowhere and whipped right into the open parking spot. Red had to use all of his willpower to keep himself from getting out of his car and whipping his foot up that guy's ass; he normally would have forgotten his willpower and gone on impulse however, he really didn't want to spend another minute in the godforsaken place, even if it was spent teaching a dumbass a lesson.

With his frown still in place, Red turned the wheel to the left, exiting one row and entering another. He drove along slowly, halfheartedly looking out his windows in search of a vacant spot. That one was take, that one was taken, so was that one, and that one and that one, and…wait a minute could it be? An empty parking spot! And only a few feet away!

He quickly sat himself up straighter and began to pick up speed as he made his way to the slot. Suddenly he noticed that he was not the only one who had spotted this empty spot, there was a car in front of him—coming from the opposite direction—driving towards him and _his_ parking space!

There was no way he was letting this person steal his space, not this time. Red began to drive even faster, not caring if he broke the speed limit and not paying much attention the pedestrians in the area. The other person began to do the same in their yellow Toyota hatchback and with both determined drivers moving their vehicles at such a fast pace it was a very close race. However, just like with any other race there could only be one winner and the winner of this race had managed to whip right pass the other car and into their winning prize of a parking space.

"Ha ha!" Red gave an almost evil laugh as he put his car into park and then opened the driver's side—there was no time for any kind of celebration.

As soon as Red stepped out he was rewarded with a long loud honking from the sore loser in the yellow vehicle. But Red didn't have time to deal with this guy either, he'd checked his watch before getting out of the Toyota and if he hurried he might be able to make it back for the start of the fourth quarter.

Looking in the direction of the other driver Red smirked and gave a slight shrug of his shoulders, "You snooze you loose, dumbass!"

The driver responded with another honk of their horn but Red merely ignored it and turned his back as he headed over to the grocery store. His parking space wasn't he the closest to the store—but that didn't matter, it was a empty space and that's what matter—and so it was good minute or two before he got to the front of the store but he'd used that time wisely and mentally went through the list of things Kitty had sent him to get. Bread, sour cream, ground cloves, and…eggs.

When Red at last reached the store's main entrance doors he was greeted by a sight that made him scowl. People were frowning and muttering things under their breath as they walked away from the glass doors that were being closed by one of the store's acne faced teenage employee.

"What the hell is going on here?" Red demanded to know as he walked closer to the market instead of following the group back to the parking lot.

The young employee turned to Red and gave a apologetic smile, "Sorry sir, we're closed."

"I thought you guys didn't close until ten." He stated rather than questioned.

"That's right." the young man gave a quick nod before elaborating into greater detail, "But since today is Thanksgiving The Piggly Wiggly has decided to wrap its day up early so that its employees can go home and enjoy Thanksgiving with their friends and family."

Hearing this information only made Red's scowl deepen into a much angrier scowl than before, "Well, isn't that just ducky?" he question sarcastically before going on with his rampage, "You think when I was over in Korea I got to wrap up my day of shooting commies and dodging their bullets so that I could enjoy Thanksgiving with my friend and family?"

"No, sir." The now frightened teenager managed to peep out.

"Damn right I didn't." came Red firm response before he nodded towards the doors, "Now let me in there."

Just as Red took a step towards the shut doors, the young man moved in front of him out stretching his arms out to the side to help block the doors. He tried to be tough and strong but it was more than clear that he was very nervous.

"I'm afraid I can't let you in, sir. I can't let anyone in anymore." He tried to explain to Red, "It's a rule and I have to follow the special holiday hours."

Red continued to frown, not ready to give up quite yet, "Listen kid, you're gonna let me into this store or I'm gonna follow my own rule and give you a special holiday foot in the ass."

The young employee's eyes widened largely with terror and he began to back up towards the doubled glass doors. He suddenly wished they would automatically slide open like the usually did. Not so that the scary bald man could get into the store but so that he could get into the store and escape from the scary bald man's wrath. Meanwhile Red, who usually got a feeling of satisfaction when he'd manage to scare someone, wasn't getting that usual pleased feeling especially not when he realized maybe threatening this kid wouldn't be the best way to get his way into the store. He swiftly tired to correct his actions.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute." He said and grabbed the younger man's arm to keep him from running off but that action only seemed to frighten the poor guy even more; seeing this Red tried to keep his voice from being too intimidating, "Alright look, we didn't get off on the best start here and that wasn't your fault and it wasn't my fault. It was that damn parking lot of dumbasses that I just spent an hour driving around in. But how about we help each other out, huh?" he offered, "What if I gave you twenty dollars and you opened those doors for me?"

The smock wearing boy shook his head, "I can't do that, sir."

"Then how about I give you my wife's list," Red started to say, letting the kid go and reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out the list, "and you go in there, buy the stuff on there and then meet me back out here and I'll pay you back whatever however much it was and add in a few extra dollars for yourself."

"I can't do that, sir." He repeated.

Red's patience was wearing thin but he managed to keep it intact, "Fine. What if I gave you list and fifty bucks to pay for the stuff then when you bring me the items and the change, I'll give you that twenty I offered you earlier."

"I'm afraid I can't do that either, sir."

"Then what the hell can you do?" Red growled, obviously frustrated.

"I can wish you a Happy Thanksgiving." The worker squeaked out, now even more frightened than before, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

After getting that out, the young Piggly Wiggly employee sped off towards the parking lot to get as far away as possible; his actions caused Red to let out a heavy sigh and look upwards toward the sky. He should have just lied and told Kitty that the Packers were playing, then she wouldn't have dared to ask him to go to the store for her and would have sent one of the four stooges.

What was he supposed to do now?

Part of him was ready to go home and get back to enjoying the game, he'd given it his best shot, it wasn't his fault the supermarket had decided to have some dumbass special holiday hours and close early. However, Red knew if he went home empty handed nothing good would come from it. He really did want to get back to watching the football game but not as much as he didn't want an upset wife who might even throw out her special yams just because he'd returned with none of the things she had sent him out for.

Catching the glimpse of a nearby pay phone, he knew what he had to do. He slipped in the appropriate amount of change into the coin slot and dialed his home number; he only had to wait a few rings before a little voice picked up.

"Hello?"

Red's brows knitted together, "Which rugrat is this?"

"It's Ricky!" the young boy informed proudly.

"Oh." Red replied, still confused about what one of his youngest grandchildren was doing answering the phone but deciding not to worry about it too much now, "Well put your grandma on the phone, Ricky."

Ricky took the phone off of his ear and looked to where his grandmother was sitting in the living room. The scene was the same as it had been for quite awhile, the occupants of the room having their eyes glued to the TV set—and this included Kitty! The older blonde woman was still in her seat in the middle of the yellow sofa, her grandchildren surrounding her, and the Nintendo game controller in her hands.

"Granma, Granpa's on the phone!" Ricky informed loudly.

"Oh okay." Kitty said though she couldn't seem to tear herself away from the game. It really was addicting, "Um…ask him what he wants, sweetie."

The young boy place the phone back to his ear, "What do you want, sweetie?"

Red's scowl indented itself even further, there was definitely something going on over there but he decided not to question about it, just yet anyway, "Look. Just tell her that the store was closed so I didn't buy any of the stuff she sent me for."

"Granpa said the store was closed and…" he told his Grandma Kitty before scrunching up his face and trying to recall what else had been said, "And he didn't buy it."

"Huh?" Kitty asked confused though paying more attention the game than the words her grandson spoke helped increase her confusion.

"I didn't buy anything." Red repeated on the other line.

Ricky nodded before repeating what it was he heard, "He didn't buy a tree."

Now he had Kitty's attention, "What?"

Red heaved a heavy sigh at the headache that was starting to form, "Just tell her I'm coming home."

"Granpa's coming home!" the little boy announced.

"Alright, well just tell him to…" Kitty began to say until her concentration was pulled back to the video game when she suddenly noticed another character come up behind the Ninja Turtle she was playing and she quickly tried to defeat it by pressing just about every button at the same time, hoping that would do the trick, "Die, die, die!"

Little Ricky frowned, he thought his grandma's words were a little funny but if that's what she wanted him to tell Grandpa Red, "She said to die, die, die!"

With that said Ricky hung up the phone and scurried over to where the rest of the family in the sitting area of the room. While Kitty was still pressing down on the various buttons very roughly as if that would make things better, the young children watched the game on the TV screen before looking at each other—not even the tiniest of smiles in sight.

"Grandma," Luke started to speak in a dry tone of voice, "That guy is on your side."

Betsy nodded, "Yeah, he's a good guy too."

"Oh." Kitty said and then gave a slightly embarrassed little giggle, "Well then I guess he should live, live, live!"

Kitty then gave out another one of her famous Kitty Forman laughs but none of her grandchildren joined in.

Back over at the payphone in front of The Piggly Wiggly, Red was staring at the black receiver in his hand with a puzzled frown on his forehead. Had Kitty really told their grandson to tell him to 'die, die, die?' That couldn't be right…The kid had thought he'd said 'tree' when he said 'anything' he had to have heard Kitty wrong too. Right? Then again, Kitty did tend to get a little stressed out when cooking large meals on her own, maybe she really was upset about the idea of him coming home without any of the items she'd sent him out to get.

Red placed the phone back in its cradle and gave another sigh before making his way back to the parked Toyota, his mind going over the names of other stores that might still be open and would carry the supplies he needed to get. After all, one of the things he was thankful for this Thanksgiving was not having an angry wife and he wanted to keep it that way.

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_**Author's Note: **There you go! An update on "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" Hope it was a least kind of worth the wait!_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, have a nice day, and remember only 12 more days till Thanksgiving 2012!_


	12. Gravy

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **Hello everyone! How are you all? hope you're doing well and Are either enjoying your thanksgiving break or getting ready to enjoy it! The holiday is almost here! Exciting no? So very sorry about not posting at all last week, I was feeling ill and spent a lot of time offline. It put a damper on me updating and working on my chapters BUT I did still write things down on my notebook so don't loose faith on those upcoming chapters1 I'll try to have the up in the morning but there's no telling how busy I'll be in the next few days so they could appear like now in the evening. Hope you all don't mind. Also quick ting, I wanted to say thank you so very much for all of you who came back to read the story! It really means so much! Big thanks to those who even left a review and a big hello to new readers! You all feel to leave reviews too, no signing in necessary! Okay I gotta get moving so I'll make this AN short. Thanks once again for everything! Please review if you can, hope you like, and please Enjoy!_

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"Jump up!"

"No, she's still gotta defeat the guy down there!"

"If she jumps up she won't have to!"

"But there's a Mouser up there! Stay down there."

"He doesn't see her! Just jump up, Grandma!"

Kitty was only half listening to the argument being had by her grandchildren as she continued to play The Ninja Turtle game trying her best to finish the level she'd been playing over and over again for the past hour or so. It may have just been the first level but it's level of difficultness was at least a ten—at least to Kitty. Her fingers were hurting, a headache was beginning to form from watching the TV screen for so long, and she was only getting more and more confused by her grandchildren's shouts. She knew they were trying to help but they weren't.

Finally she decided to listen to her older grandchildren and she looked down at the game controller, remembering which button she needed to press to get her Ninja Turtle to do the task she wanted him to do. Michael Angelo leapt up in the air and onto the next platform that was above the one he'd been on previously; the action caused half of the game's audience to cheer while the others groaned and covered their eyes.

Luke leaned forward and began to walk his grandmother through the steps she needed to take, "Okay, Grandma now just walk up behind that guy and hit him. He still hasn't seen you so you have that advantage."

"Alright." Kitty said in uncertain tone of voice before she started to move her character closer to the enemy, sneaking up behind him very, very slowly. Instead of holding down the side arrow button, Kitty would press it, let go, press I and let go making her Ninja Turtle move slowly and in a kind of movement that made it look like he was doing some sort of dance that could have been in _West Side Story_.

When Michael Angelo at last reached his enemy—who had by this time turned around and seen him—the battle begin and the usual events started over again. Kitty started to press down on a combination of the various buttons and the audience became quite vocal.

"Get him!"

"Kick him!"

"A! Press A!"

"Pull out your weapon!"

"You've almost got him!"

Then abruptly the shouts of instructions and advice switched over to exclamations of warnings.

"There's a guy coming up behind you, Grandma!" Becky informed while pointing at the TV.

Mandy shook her head, "No, it's okay. Just finish killing this guy and he'll be dead by the time the other guy gets to you."

"No! No! No!" Mikey argued, getting quite into the game, "You've gotta go and kill that new guy first! He's got a longer life than you!"

"Yeah and he can start fighting you while you're still busy trying to finish off the other guy." James pointed out.

Kitty shook her head, she'd listened to most of what her grandchildren had to say but had come to her own decision, "No, no. I'm sure I'll be fine. I just need to kill this guard first and then I'll move to the next one." She explained, still fighting the first 'guard' she had encountered with on the second platform, "This other guy will just have to wait his turn.

While Mandy grinned because her suggestion was the one closest to her grandmother's decision the other kids who had instructed the opposite like James and Mikey had dropped their heads into their hands, covering their eyes form seeing the sight they had a feeling was going to happen. Their hutch was proven right when the unhappy tune that they'd all become very familiar with since their grandmother had start playing, filled their ears again.

"Well that was just rude." Kitty commented, "That other guy didn't wait for his turn."

"Grandma, that other guy was a bad guy. Bad guys don't wait their turns." Luke said, sounding much like his father.

"Oh. Well," Kitty laughed nervously, "Lesson learned!"

"My turn!" Ricky shouted excitedly over his grandmother's laughter.

Not ready to give up or let someone else have a turn just yet, Kitty reached over and grabbed another cookie off the plate and handed it to her youngest grandson. That had been the way she'd been getting so many turns at playing the game, trading their turns for cookies. It had so far been working and this time was included. Ricky took the cookie and contently settled back on the floor munching on his treat.

After handing the remote to her son's son so that he could set the game up again for her, Kitty took back the controller and got ready for her signal to start the game.

"You know Kitty, I don't know why you're having such a hard time at this game." Jackie spoke up from her seat in Red's chair.

Jackie had come upstairs after getting bored in the basement when Eric had come back from his trip to the kitchen and continued to make his argument about how he was a cool teacher but his friends still refused to believe it. She had actually agreed and said that he probably was a cool teacher—if only to get him end the whole argument that was getting boring and repetitive. Unfortunately her plan hadn't worked and the only way to escape the debate was to get away from it and out of the basement. She'd chosen the living room since it was the only other room with people in it. However, the events in this room were just as boring as the one downstairs, but she'd managed to keep herself semi entertained by braiding her youngest daughter's hair.

Kitty turned to the brunette; she was really tired of people saying that the game wasn't hard—because it was! "Jackie, this game is not as easy as it looks."

"Sure it is. Watch." she then stood up and grabbed the controller out of the older woman's hands.

Once she had the controller Jackie sat back down in the green arm chair and got into her game zone. Her eyes stayed on the TV screen as she—like Kitty—pressed the different buttons several times; but the difference between the way Kitty pressed the buttons and the way Jackie pressed the buttons was that Jackie never had to glance down to remember which buttons she was pressing, she also never hesitated when pressing a button, and Jackie unlike Kitty, seemed to have a better idea of how to play the game.

Another difference between what happened when Kitty played and what was happening as Jackie played was that the watchers of the game weren't shouting over each other. They simply sat there—speechless—staring at the screen watching as their mom and aunt played their video game.

Not more than five minutes had passed when a happy little number played out of the speakers of the television alerting the player and those around that the level had been completed and not only that but a new records had been set!

"Go Aunt Jackie!" Betsy cheered for her godmother.

"Yeah, Mom." James said with a nod, "That was pretty cool."

Jackie smiled, "Thanks honey." She kissed the top of her son's head as she passed the controller back to Luke.

Kitty, who had also been shocked by what she'd just seen, blinked her eyes a few times before reasoning, "You…you've played this game before haven't you?"

"Nope." The younger woman shook her head as she settled back into her seat, "This was my first time."

"Then how did you…" a confused Kitty started to ask.

"I'm just good at everything." Jackie replied with a simple shrug of her shoulders.

Frowning a frown that had a hit of jealousy in it (though she'd never admit it), Kitty looked back at Jackie, "Alright, Miss. Good at Everything, why don't you go into the kitchen and check the turkey for me?"

"Okay." Jackie answered before standing up and heading for the kitchen. She was never one to do anything too domestic especially checking on the thanksgiving turkey but things were getting boring in that room too.

"Alright Luke, sweetie, start the game over." Kitty instructed.

Luke frowned, "But Grandma, Aunt Jackie beat the first level, you can move on to level two if you just play from here."

"No, no." Kitty said shaking her head from left to right, "I want to beat this game all by myself, no help from other people completing levels for me."

"This is gonna be a long night." James mumbled to his cousin.

Having heard the words and ready to prove them wrong Kitty stuck out her hand, "Give me that remote." She said still refuse to call it a controller.

"A very long night." Luke agreed but still handed the controller over.

As soon as Kitty had the controller back in her hands and she began the game the 'cheers' from eth children began again. She didn't understand why they had been so quiet when Jackie was playing but chose to yell everything to her; she tried to see to as a positive thing though and used their 'cheers' as some sort of guidance.

"Get that one!"

"Use the nunchucks!"

"You fell off! Get back up! Get back up!"

"They're coming!"

"Pres B!"

"Use the nunchucks! Use the NUNCHUCKS!"

"I'm done checking the turkey." Kitty heard Jackie inform over the kid's shouting.

"Oh…how…um…" Kitty struggled to concentrate on the game and ask about the bird, "How is it?"

Jackie shrugged, "Okay, I didn't really know what to check for."

Kitty turned to Jackie but her eyes were diverted back to the TV when one of her granddaughter's shouted out, "Watch out!"

"What did it look like?" Kitty managed to ask while playing the game, though probably worse than before.

"Um like a turkey." Jackie replied not sure of how to answer that question.

Sighing heavily, Kitty wasn't sure what frustrated her more at the moment, the game or her daughter-in-law, "I mean what color was it."

"Oh!" Jackie nodded and furrowed her brow as she tried to figure out the best way to describe the shades she had seen on the turkey in the oven, "Well it's not that sickly pale, Eric-y color but it hasn't turned the golden tan-ish color of my skin tone. So I'd say somewhere between there."

"It's April!" Katie noticed.

"Wow." Mikey said seeing the female captive character up at the corner of the screen, "She's never gotten this far before."

Kitty tore her eyes off the TV just long enough to send a warning look to the youngest Kelso, she then went back to playing the game and multitasking a bit as she asked Jackie some more questions.

"Well did you baste it?"

Jackie frowned again, "Did I _what_ it?"

"Did you at least check the thermometer?" Kitty questioned.

Now Jackie was even more confused "Okay, you're just making stuff up now, right?"

Before Kitty could answer the unhappy wordless song played in the room, ending Kitty's turn once again.

"My turn!" Mikey announced ready to take the game control.

This time Kitty didn't put up a fight, though it couldn't be said that she gave little resistance. Still she knew she had to check out the turkey especially since sending in Miss. Good at Everything didn't work out so well, guess she wasn't good at everything. Kitty handed the game piece over and stood up from the sofa.

"Fine but as soon as he dies, I'm next." She declared sounding a bit intimidating but quickly changed it to a happier one, "Come on, Jackie, let's go check on that bird."

The two women entered the kitchen leaving the video game addicted children behind; once they were in the next room Kitty quickly went to work on checking the main course of the big holiday meal. Opening the oven door she smiled at the large bird that appeared to be cooking down on the right track.

"Jackie honey, can you pass me the turkey baster?" Kitty asked, still bent over near the open oven door.

"Um…sure." Jackie looked over the counter and all the various cooking utensils on it. She could do this, she could. Turkey baster, okay it had to be something that a turkey would fit in right? Her hand started to reach out of the colander but she quickly withdrew it remember that that item was used on days besides thanksgiving, she wasn't exactly sure for what but she had a good feeling that it probably wasn't a turkey.

Seeing that she was having a bit of a difficult time Kitty smiled warmly at her, "It's the long one with the yellow top, dear."

"Oh!" Jackie exclaimed and then grabbed the item, examining it for a bit, "Is that what this is? Michael and Fez always use it to squirt water at everyone."

Kitty smiled and shook her head before taking the plastic tube, "Oh those two."

Jackie nodded in agreement and when she saw Kitty open the oven door completely and then stick the turkey baster into the pan where the turkey was cooking, she became curious and decided to get a better look. As soon as she crouched down beside the blonde she instantly regretted her decision.

"Eww!" she cried in disgust, "_That's_ what basting is?"

"Uh-huh."

"Squeezing the turkey sweat over the turkey?" Jackie asked, showing her repulsion by scrunching up her nose.

Laughing nervously Kitty continued her task, "Well I suppose that's one way to put it."

"That's just gross." Jackie stated, standing up straight again, "Why would you do that?"

"Jackie, basting the turkey helps give it that golden tanish color, and it helps keep the meat moist." The mother figure explained.

Jackie just shook her head, "I'd rather have a pale, dry turkey than one drenched in turkey sweat."

Shaking her own head as she fought back a smile, Kitty stood up to put the turkey baster back in place, she had a feeling asking Jackie to do it would not be the best idea. Jackie watched and though she should have learned her lesson from the last time, she let her curiosity get the best of her and pressed for more knowledge about preparing this big holiday dinner.

"Now what?"

At first Kitty was a little taken aback by Jackie wanting to know more, but she was more than happy to share some of her thanksgiving knowledge, "Well next we check the thermometer." She then proceeded to check the meat thermometer that she'd put into the turkey earlier that day. "It's moving right on schedule, but sometimes it's good to adjust the temperature just a little bit."

Jackie watched Kitty mess with the stove top knobs, "And that's it?"

"That's it!" she nodded.

"Well that's easy!" she said, surprised that she hadn't realized it before, "I could do this."

"I'm sure you could." Kitty said wanting to be encouraging, "Oh and then you use the time between checking the turkey to work on the other side dishes. I still need to work on the…"

Suddenly the well known little end of game tune was heard and was soon followed by an 'Aw man!'

"Oh good, Mikey's dead!" Kitty said excitedly, not realizing how wrong that sounded, "It's my turn again."

The short blonde woman scurried out of the kitchen ready to get back to playing the video game, meanwhile Jackie stayed in the kitchen examining the various cooking instruments and ingredients scattered over the counter tops.

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_**Author's Note: **There you go! The newest chapter of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" Hope you enjoyed it! There's more to come!_

_BTW Quick note (again) I recently opened up a new poll on my profile concerning what type of Christmas stories I should do. You readers get to decide, but because I'll need to get started on it soon the poll will be closing next week so go vote! Thanks much in advance!_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, have a nice day, and only 3 more days till Thanksgiving 2012!_


	13. Pecan Pie

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **Hello everyone! How are you all doing? Hope you're doing fine and dandy! First off I would like to apologize for not updating sooner. I actually had plans to update more last week but I realized most of you might be out of town or too bust getting ready for the holiday to read new chapters and I didn't want to overload you with chapters when you came back. No I didn't plan on waiting so long to update either but school is coming to an end and just like it does every year things are beginning to pile up—and it's not my fault! Professors always seem to leave the big projects for the end of the semester! Don't ask me why. But anyways I am sorry for not updating sooner. I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving. Thanks for all of your support and reviews those things were definitely on eth list of things I was thankful for this year! Hope you enjoy this chapter and please do review if you have the chance it would mean so very much, you don't even have to have an account! Also be sure to check out my closing AN as there is some important stuff I would like your opinion on. Thanks. Okay so once again thanks for everything, sorry for the late reply, hope you like, please review if you can and please, Enjoy!_

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Down in the basement there occupants were split into two different groups. The smaller group of two were seated on top of the appliances that were usually used to clean clothes and not as seats, and the second larger group were seated around the television set but not appearing to be very happy to be watching whatever was playing on it. Hyde sat in his chair arms crossed over his chest, across from him in the old lawn chair was his adopted brother stared blankly at the glowing screen, and between them—on the beat up old sofa, were three women each with a different hair color but all wearing an annoyed looking expression. However, if it had to be picked the blonde was the one who looked the most aggravated.

"Ugh, if we're not there to watch this dumb thing in person it's because we don't wanna watch it not because we wanna watch it on TV." she complained while glaring at the local thanksgiving parade being broadcast on the TV they were watching, "Can't we watch something else?"

Never moving his eyes from the screen—even though he was as bored as she was—Hyde answered with the reminder, "There's nothing else on."

"There's the football game." Donna suddenly remembered, "We could watch that."

As most of the TV viewing group began to nod in agreement and got ready to change the channel, Eric spoke up not wanting to be stuck watching another football game. The fact that he found football games even more mind-numbing than parades was just one of his reasons behind wanting to keep his family from switching to the game. Yet, instead of sharing that reason, or any of his other reasons, Eric decided to take a different route.

"Wait no, you guys don't wanna watch some boring football game. This parade is much more exciting." He said, hoping he sounded convincing, "This is the people of our little town marching around and celebrating thanksgiving; it's important that we watch and support them. Plus there's the costumes, floats, balloons…somebody help me out here."

Since the other three seemed to have their minds set on watching the game, Brooke Kelso was the only one to join Eric on his side of the argument.

"I gotta go with Eric on this one." She started to say, "I always like watching Point Place's parades even more than the big national ones. Seeing those all smiling faces of people we know…it fills me with such joy and can really put you in the holiday mood."

Hearing this, Laurie snarled and even scooted a few inches away from the taller woman she sat next to, "Yeah, we can't be friends anymore." She said in a serious sounding tone that only made Brooke smile, Laurie then turned to her brother, "Put the game on twerp, I wanna see whose butts are playing now…I mean what teams are playing now." She corrected herself with her fake moment of innocence.

"Sure put it on a program where my sister and wife can stare and droll over other guy's butts. Yeah, okay." Eric scoffed a reply that dripped with sarcasm.

"Come on, Forman, just switch it over to the game." Stated Hyde—he wasn't much of a football fan but watching guys tackle each other sounded much more appealing than watching some Girl Scout troops walk through the streets of Point Place. "Laurie stares at butts all year long. And as far as Donna goes, she's married to you, Thanksgiving could be the one time of the year where she gets to see a few butts that aren't flat or boney."

Eric frowned, "First of all my butt is not flat or boney, it's a cute butt, it's…"

"It's a butt only a mother could love." His sister threw out in her snarky tone of voice, "And even she thinks it's been flattened out by an iron."

"Second of all!" Eric nearly shouted over Laurie, not wanting to hear anymore about his butt and especially not that his mother thought it was cute. "I'm not putting on the game if we're already halfway through the parade."

"Eric, not everyone wants to watch the parade." Donna said—herself being one of those people; "Look if you don't wanna watch the game at least look for something else to watch."

"It's Thanksgiving. There's nothing else to watch but football and parade." Brooke reminded.

The redhead's face fell a bit, "Oh. Well then why don't we just turn off the TV and put the radio on?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't do that if I were you, Donna." said Hyde, stopping Donna from pushing herself onto her feet.

"Why not?"

"Cuz unless you wanna hear _Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer_ four times an hour, I'd stay away from the radio until December twenty sixth." The seated curly haired man gave his simple explanation that made just about everyone groan.

Donna's scowl appeared to be deeper than the others, "They're already playing Christmas music? Thanksgiving isn't even over yet. We never played Christmas music this early when I was working at Hot Donna."

"Yeah." her husband agreed, "What happened to the good ol' days when people had the decency to wait until December first to play the annoying Christmas carols?"

"Oh God." Laurie groaned before standing up from the sofa, "Come on Brooke, let's go."

The librarian frowned but still stood up, "Where?"

"To look for some of that emergency wine we used to keep around here when Mom was going through menopause, there's gotta be some left somewhere." She explained but when she caught the still puzzled look on Brooke's face she realized her explanation wasn't clear enough and so she went on, "If I have to sit through a parade and a 'Back in my day' story from Grandma and Grandpa over there I'm gonna need some wine."

Brooke shook her head and held in a laugh as she began to follow her friend towards the staircase in the basement. Just as they reached and began to climb the first few steps, their husbands—who had been preoccupying themselves by the laundry area of the room—called out to them.

"Hey girls, don't go too far." Kelso said after hopping off the washing machine.

Fez stayed on the dryer but nodded his head, "Yes, we want you two to be the test readers of out thanksgiving children's story book."

"Lots and lots of wine." Laurie added after ripping her eyes away from her husband and ascending up the steps with Brooke not that far behind.

Once Brooke and Laurie were out of the basement and on the upper level of the house, Donna swung her head to look over at the brainstorming duo.

"So how is the children's book going?" she asked curiously.

Fez and Kelso looked at each other before turning back to Donna and simultaneously saying, "Fine."

"Do you guys want any help?" the redhead offered.

"No." Both men replied together after having another silent little conversation between the two of them.

Donna couldn't help but frown at their response and how quick they had given it, "Okay. Well you guys do want help later on, you know who you can go to."

Because Donna didn't give the person's actual name it left Kelso and Fez confused and pondering over who the person could be. The wracked their brains for a possible answer but only one of them came up with what he thought was the correct answer.

"Brooke?" Fez guessed, still sounding quite unsure.

"No not Brooke, you dillhole." Donna replied her frown even deeper than before, "Me."

"You?" Kelso repeated in a questioning tone of voice.

While Fez abruptly asked, "Why?"

"Because I'm a writer." She reminded but when she saw the baffled expressions on the pair's faces she knew she had to continue—she was starting to understand how Eric felt earlier when these two baboons had claimed they came up the story writing idea all on their own, "I write for the news."

"Yeah but see Donna, you write for the news and we're writing a children's book." Kelso tried to explain the logic that had formed in his kettlehead, "What we write is gonna make people smile and laugh but the stuff you write just puts people to sleep."

Fez moved his head up and down, "Yes. But when we are writing a book that is supposed to put people to sleep you will be the first one we go to for help." Through the corner of his eye he caught his best friend rapidly shaking his head back and forth so he added, "But do not call us, we will call you…Maybe."

While Fez and Kelso went back to their story planning Donna sat there with her frown still deeply indented onto her forehead—she couldn't believe she had just been rejected by Rocky and Bullwinkle. Seeing how upset his wife appeared to be, Eric moved from the lawn chair to the seat sofa beside her and even put a comforting arm around her shoulders. When he saw her frown become replaced by her small smile he knew he'd done good and even smiled himself.

The voices of the local newscasters talking about the current parade on screen mixed with the whispers and mumbles coming from Kelso and Fez but the atmosphere of the basement was very content and peaceful…almost too peaceful.

"Hey." Eric said as he looked around the room, "Where's Jackie?"

"She left upstairs awhile ago after getting tired of listening to your cool teacher argument." Hyde briefly informed.

"Wait a minute me talking about how I was a cool teacher made Jackie leave the basement?" he asked before letting a grin break out onto his face, "I should've thought of that years ago!"

Hyde turned his head to look at his smiling friend beside him and without saying a word reached over and frogged him hard of the arm.

"Ow! Hyde!" Eric yelped while grabbing onto his arm.

"Excuse me!" Kelso suddenly shouted, "We are trying to be creative over here!"

Fez backed up his friend and co-author by stepping up behind him, "It is not that easy!"

"Yeah, so we need you guys to be keep it down." The taller of the two went on, "I mean it's only fair, we're always quiet whenever you guys ask us to be."

The three seated friends exchanged looks. They'd made several memories over the years with Fez and Kelso but none of them seemed to contain a quiet Kelso or a quiet Fez. These two clowns had never been quiet for more than two minutes and they were definitely not quiet when someone asked them to be. And now it was time for a little payback.

After getting the nod from Hyde, Eric and Donna began to chat loudly with Hyde talking about random topics that at times didn't even any make sense.

"Ah!" Kelso exclaimed in shock at his friends' actions.

Fez wasn't as shocked but was still upset; with his eyebrows knitted closely together he placed a hand on Kelso's shoulder, "Come Kelso, I know somewhere we can go where it can be just the two of us."

With his hand still on Kelso's broad shoulder, Fez started to lead him away from the noisy trio and towards the backdoor of the basement; but instead of exiting through that door they made an unexpected left turn and headed their way towards Hyde's old room, slamming the door close behind them once they were in there.

"Hyde man, they just went into your old room. You okay with that?" Eric questioned.

The other man shrugged, "Not my room anymore man." He stated though his next comment showed he did still care about the little room, "And as long as Fez didn't go in there with Laurie, it's cool. Besides now that they're in there, if we move some of this junk over to block the door we can lock them in there for dinner and get some extra room at the table."

"Or at least the kids table." Donna quipped.

"Oh that reminds me." Eric said as he started to get ready to get up, "I've gotta go tell Mom to set an extra plate for our special guest."

Frowning Donna asked, "What special guest?"

"Our special guest. I told you about her." he insisted but seeing Donna's face still skewed with confusion Eric second guessed himself, "I didn't tell you?"

"No." she said with a shake of her head.

"Oh well, she's a friend of yours and Hyde's." Eric began to explain causing Hyde and Donna to glance at each other and frown slightly; Eric never noticed thought and carried on, "She called while I was upstairs awhile ago and said she her plane home was delayed and she was stuck here. She asked if she could stop by and I invited her to have Thanksgiving dinner with us."

Hyde shook his head, fighting off a smirk as he realized how those actions were much like the actions of the woman who practically raised them all, "Man, you're such a Mama's Boy."

"Well excuse me for helping a stranger during the holiday season." Eric spoke in an offended sounding tone, "But I don't think anyone should be alone for Thanksgiving."

As Hyde continued to smirk—Did Eric not realize how much he sounded like his mother?—Donna wasn't paying much attention to her husband's words and was still trying to figure out who this special guest was.

"What did you say her name was again?" She asked, though couldn't recall him ever mentioning the name before.

"Um Sam something." He replied and shrugged, "I figured she might be someone you guys had class with in school or something."

Donna's face scrunched up as she tried to think of any female classmate named Sam, but her mind was drawing a blank, "I don't remember any Sam from high school."

"Me either."

"What about from when you worked as Hot Donna?" Eric tired, "Someone who worked in the music business?"

This time it was Hyde's turn to shake his head, "Nah man, that's not it either."

Eric shrugged his shoulder once more "Okay then maybe she was someone you guys met while I was in Africa. She said we hadn't met before but she seemed to know a lot about everyone else including Mom and Red. And get this she called Red _welcoming_ can you believe that?"

Though Eric was still rambling on about how crazy it was to hear someone say that they actually liked his father and thought he was a welcoming kind of person, neither Hyde or Donna were paying him any attention. In fact his voice just became white noise as they were both hit with the sudden realization of who this Sam was.

Donna's eyes went wide, "Oh my God!"

"Damn it, Forman." Hyde cussed as he pushed himself off his seat and onto his feet and then had to hold back the urge to punch his adopted brother.

"What? What?" Eric asked clearly confused by their anger, "What did I do?"

Hyde stopped his pacing, "You invited Sam, _Sam_ to dinner."

"Yeah, I don't think her last name is the same as her first name. I mean it would be cool and all but…"

"No you dillhole." Donna interrupted smacking her husband on the arm for both her friends, "Hyde means you invited to _Thanksgiving dinner_ Sam the stripper..."

Before Donna could go on or Eric could even respond the back door to the small room in the back burst open and Fez and Kelso ran into the room as fast as Black Friday shoppers when the store doors were opened. The two men were grinning largely while glancing around the room with big, excited eyes.

"Where's the stripper?" Kelso eagerly asked while Fez enthusiastically nodded behind him.

Ignoring the outburst from the comedy duo, a perplexed Eric switched his head from looking at Hyde to looking at Donna and back again; and the pieces started to come together.

"Oh wait. Sam…as in Samantha, the stripper and your ex-wife." He said pointing at Hyde, who'd gone back to pacing.

"We were never really married." Hyde was swift to remind.

"Yeah, I don't think that really matters now." came Eric's response as he started let an amusement smile develop, "Man, Jackie is gonna kill you."

These five words caused Hyde to halt in his tracks and stare straight at his friend, "No, no she's not." he argued and began to let his own smirk form, "She's gonna kill _you_ for inviting her."

Eric's face dropped into an emotionless expression, however his eyes showed how terrified he was really feeling inside, and it made Hyde's smirk grow while Donna only shook her head still not able to believe her husband could have been so clueless and invited _Sam_ to dinner. Meanwhile, Fez and Kelso were busy trying to figure out what was exactly going on.

"Hey you guys, today is Thanksgiving." Kelso spoke in a uncharacteristically firm voice, "Jackie killing people is not something we should be talking about on a day that we're supposed spending saying what we're thankful for."

Fez nodded, "Yes. I agree with Kelso. Now where is the Thanksgiving stripper?"

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_**Author's Note: **And there you go! A new chapter of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" Hope you liked!_

_Now onto some somewhat important stuff. Because I was not able to update as much as I would have liked to this month and because I really do feel bad leaving this story again I'm thinking maybe MAYBE if its okay with you all, I could continue to update this story every so often for the next few months until maybe March or April spring time…although I'm hoping by then I'll have completed the story but no promises! So what do you all think? Good idea or a stinko idea? Lemme know in a review, PM, or anything of the sorts!_

_Until next times, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, have a nice day, and only 365 days till Thanksgiving!_


	14. Dressing

_**Disclaimer: **__Three years later and I still own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **__Hello everyone! How are you all doing? Hope you're doing well and having a good week. Now to some of you this update may come as a big surprise others may have already known it was coming, but either way I just hope that you all excited for some new chapters for this thanksgiving story! It is after all that time of year again and I don't know about you all but I'm excited! I really do feel so bad for not updating this story since last year, like I said I really like to write and update holiday stories during the holiday season (which reminds me readers who are reading my Halloween story, Things That Go Bump don't fret the last chapter is coming soon!) but depending on how things go I may continue this story through the Christmas season. We'll see :D Okay, it's been a year so I'm sure you all are eager to get to this new chapter so I'll let you get to but before I do I just wanted to say thank you again for all of the amazing support you wonderful readers have given me throughout the years of writing this story, and whether you're a reader who was here from the beginning or just clicked on it this week, I welcome you and thank you so much for not giving up on this story. Please review if you can, I'd love to hear your thoughts and it'll help me determine how my posting schedule will work. I hope you like it! And as always, please, Enjoy!_

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While Fez and Kelso kept on their search of the Thanksgiving stripper that they believed was still hidden somewhere in the basement, Eric continued to sit on the old beat up sofa in his parent's basement, his head still in his hands and regret filling his mind. Why had invite Sam to dinner? He barely even knew her now that he knew she was exactly which only meant he knew her even less when they spoke on the phone, He pretty much had invited a stranger to Thanksgiving dinner! Who did that? No, no what he did was much, _much_ worse, he wasn't the guy who invited a stranger to Thanksgiving dinner he was the guys who invited a _stripper_ to Thanksgiving dinner!

His father was right, he was a dumbass. And now his dumbassary was going to be the thing that sent him to an early grave. Hyde was right, Jackie would surely kill him when she found out that he had been the one to invite Sam to this family celebration; the only question was how would she do it? Eric hoped it would be painless but after what he'd done and just knowing Jackie it would be slow and painful something like death by kicks delivered to the shins.

At last Eric uncovered his somber looking face and raised his head, "Well, I guess I better get started on my will then."

Donna watched her husband reach for the pen and sheets of paper left by Kelso and Fez on the spool table; even though she was upset at him for inviting a person that they all thought was out of their lives for good, she knew his heart had been in the right place and she couldn't help but feel bad for him.

"Eric, Jackie's not gonna…" she tried to put his fear about Jackie to rest but given the situation she didn't know what she could expect from her tiny sized friend, "She's…not…she would only….Look, I'm sure we can figure out a way to make this all seem like you're really not the one to blame here."

A hopeful look crossed Eric face as he looked at his wife, "Really?"

"Sure." The redhead nodded her head before starting to think of a way to get him out of this whole, "Okay, you never met Sam right? You never saw her?"

"You mean you're asking me if I ever got to see a stripper walking around in my Batcave Basement?" Eric rephrased the question to his liking, "Unfortunately I did not."

The rewording was not something Donna was a fan of and you could see it in her eyes, "Do you want me to help you or not?"

"Yes, please." He managed to squeak back in reply.

Pleased with his response Donna went back to her train of thought, "Okay so if you never met Sam or saw her it means you never heard her either. There's no way you would have recognized her voice over the phone. You have no idea what she sounds like. So Jackie can be mad at you enough to kill you, there's nothing to blame you for."

Hearing this Eric's face lit up and he felt a millions time better until his adopted brother on his right spoke up with his own two cents while Fez and Kelso searched the washer dyer combo and the deepfreeze in the background.

"He's still the one who invited her over and answered the phone to begin with." Hyde pointed out, his smirk still on his lips—he really was relieved he wouldn't be in trouble for this mess concerning his ex…Sam. "Face it Donna, he's a dead man walking."

Eric's face crumbled into distress once again and because Donna knew he was the one behind it she scowled over at her childhood friend.

"Knock it off Hyde, if it wasn't for you marrying Sam in the first place all those years ago we wouldn't be in this situation." She threw at him.

Hyde's smirk faded into a complete look of Zen as he reminded, "We were never really married."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that only makes things worse since you stayed with her for almost half a year."

Not liking the way Donna was suddenly putting all the blame on him, dragging up history they all had buried years ago and making him seem like the only bad guy, Hyde stood up from his seat and grabbed a shovel to do some of his own digging.

He stared back at the tall woman standing across from him, "I'm pretty sure what made things worse was you becoming fast friends with Sam when you should've been there for Jackie."

Donna wanted to ask him how he knew about how she should have been with Jackie, but instead kept her focus on something else but it wasn't Kelso and Fez searching behind the old shower curtain behind her, "You didn't have to stay married to Sam.'

"We were never really married." Hyde repeated again.

"Fine, when she first got here and you thought you guys were really married." Donna corrected herself not to make Hyde happy but so she could hopefully get a straight answer, "You didn't have to stay with her."

"You didn't have to become friends with her." He threw right back at her.

The point startled Donna a bit and she struggled some before getting a clear answer out, "We weren't really…I mean…there was a Trans-Am."

"What is with you and Trans-Ams?" her husband couldn't help but ask, remembering the infamous Casey Kelso incident years ago.

A sharp glare was sent to Eric before Donna moved her attention back to Hyde, "You were the one that paraded your fake marriage life in front of Jackie everyday when Sam was here and that hurt her."

Hyde hated being reminded about this part of his life. He'd rather relive unhappy days of his childhood with Bud and Edna than talk about 1979. Still despite his hatred for the topic and the mistakes that were being thrown back in his face, he kept his Zen in place the whole time.

"You don't think it hurt her to see her best friend becoming friends with the woman she hated?"

Before Donna could come up with a response to that there was another voice that spoke up from their spot on the sofa—the same area that Fez and Kelso were snooping around, even looking at the gap between the concrete floor and the bottom of the couch

"Well it sounds to me like I'm in the clear after all." Eric said with a growing smile on his lips as he started to relax in his seat, even moving his folded arms behind his head.

Together Hyde and Donna turned their attention from each other to look in the middle of where they stood finding the worry free Eric. Hyde's Zen started to crack with a faint frown and while Donna still looked very upset her anger was no longer directed at Hyde so much but rather her husband.

Looking down at Eric, Hyde made sure to make this reminder, "Forman, man, you were the one who actually invited her."

"Yeah, you dillhole." Donna agreed, no longer having much interest in easing Eric's worries, "And I bet if you never even went to Africa, Hyde never would've run off to Vegas and 'married' Sam in the first place." She made sure to use air quotes around the word 'married' after all she was no longer arguing with Hyde.

Meanwhile Hyde took in the statement Donna had made. He had never really thought of things that way but it made sense. 1979 had been an odd and not so great year and you could trace the beginning of the weird stuff back to when Forman had left to Africa. Which had been pretty weird on it's own. Hyde soon found himself nodding his head in approval of the redhead's words.

The laidback appearance of Eric started to erase itself as Eric moved his arms from behind him and sat up straighter, his smile now wiped off his face; he looked from his wife to his best friend and then back again.

"So the blame's back on me again?" he asked and then gave an understanding nod, "Yeah, that makes sense." he then grabbed his paper from before and started writing again, "So I'll leave my entire Star Wars collection to Luke. May the force always be with you, my dear son…"

As Eric went back to dividing his belongs to his loved ones there were two friends who were getting quite impatient at being ignored.

"Hey, so I know you guys are busy with…whatever you're busy with." Kelso started to say to the other three in the room, "But um…Where's the Thanksgiving stripper?!"

Fez nodded beside his loud speaking friend, "Yes. We have looked all over for her but have found nothing! She better have good yams!"

Donna's brows furrowed, "Don't you mean gams?"

"Yes, those too." The foreigner gave another nod.

Hyde dropped himself into his seat, deciding he'd be the one to break the news to these two and hope they'd be able to keep their mouths shut about it and not tell Jackie, "It's not a Thanksgiving stripper that's coming man, it's Sam."

"Aw man!" Kelso whined as his face turned with his disgust, "You got a thanksgiving _guy_ stripper?"

"Will…will there still be yams?" Fez asked nervously.

Again Donna's forehead wrinkled with confusion thanks to Fez's words, so she decided to clear up this confusion once and for all, "There's no thanksgiving stripper coming you morons. There's no male stripper coming either. It's Sam as in Hyde's ex-wife."

"We were never really married." Hyde said once more.

A look of concern filled Fez's big brown eyes, "Aye no. You…you do not mean the same busty, blubbly, blonde Sam that Hyde thought he was married to and stayed married to even though just weeks before he could not make the true love of his life happy by just telling her that they could have a future together making Jackie's beautiful heart be crushed into little tiny heartbroken pieces and…"

"Yeah, Fez, that Sam." Interrupted Hyde, not wanting to hear any more.

"_Aye no_." Fez repeated looking more brokenhearted than before, "That woman is the one caused my poor Jackie to fall into a downward spiral and she fell so far down that she even dated me!"

Hyde frowned, his arms now crossed over his chest, "Don't remind me."

Fez slowly shook his head, "Jackie is going to be crushed when she sees Sam….and I am married to Laurie now so she cannot run to me for some foreign lovin'." Suddenly a look of deep thought made its way onto Fez's face, "Unless…"

"Fez, don't me make me frog you on Thanksgiving, man." Hyde said, stopping Fez's mind from thinking anything weirder than the thoughts that were probably already permanently stored in that brain of his.

While Fez quickly zipped his lips up with an imaginary zipper, something finally clicked inside Kelso's head.

"Oh Sam! Yeah I remember her." he nodded his head as a large Kelso grin started to break out onto his face, "Yeah, I remember I was really bummed out that I was moving to Chicago just when we finally added a stripper to the basement, cuz you know it was the only thing missing from here." He added on as he settled himself into the old lawn chair, "But I had to do what was right for my little family."

Donna turned to the kettlehead, "You mean work as a security guard at the _Playboy_ _Mansion_?"

"Sometimes you gotta make sacrifices for your kids." Kelso replied as if the 'sacrifice' he'd made had been so profound and difficult, "Man I miss that job. Now all I do is walk around the mall with a water gun and kick pimply face kids out of stores for shoplifting. I don't even get to really kick 'em out! I 'escort' them!" his upset tone of voice switched to a softer one, "But I do get all the free pretzels I want. That's still good, right?"

Kelso looked up at Fez for reassurance and got just that when his friend clasped his hand over his shoulder and nodded his head.

"I think you traded up my friend." Fez commented.

A shy smile appeared on Kelso's lips as he continued to hold his gaze with Fez's—he knew he could always count on his best buddy to help him feel better.

Ignoring the two men who seemed to be giving each other some weird googly eyes that crossed the line of a normal friendship between two guys or anyone fo that matter, Hyde turned his attention over to the sofa where the married couple sat together,

"Look Forman, I think I figured out a way to save all of our asses." Hyde began to explain, "Just call up Sam and uninvite her. Make up some story about us having to cancel dinner altogether."

Eric's frown deepened at the outrageous suggestion Hyde had made, "What? No! You can't just uninvite someone to Thanksgiving dinner, Hyde. It's _Thanksgiving_ _dinner_." he said putting more than enough empathies on the last two words, "No one should be alone on Thanksgiving. No one deserves that, not even a stripper."

"That's it!" Kelso exclaimed as his popped out of his seat earning him some odd looks form his friends, but he only ignored them and looked at his partner in crime, an excited expression on his face, "That's what our thanksgiving children's book should be! The Stripper That Came to Thanksgiving Dinner!"

"You brilliant beautiful bastard!" came Fez's awestruck reply.

Pointing a finger straight in the air, Kelso declared, "To the…" he suddenly stopped not knowing what cool name to give their new workstation; it wasn't a laboratory and it couldn't be the Batcave…but he just wanted to get to work on the idea before he lost it so he finished his sentence with the first thing he could think of, "Hyde's old room!"

Fez and Kelso then dashed off to the smaller room with Kelso in the far lead. The remaining three sat in their spots, scowls marked on their foreheads at their friends' words and exit, that would not be a children's book they could be letting their children read. However, instead of stopping the two and telling them how inappropriate the idea was for a children's story they focused their attention back on their own problem.

Donna watched her twitching husband and a realization hit her, "You don't have a phone number for Sam do you?"

"If I did I would!" he answered back, referring to Hyde previous idea, "She didn't give me any information!"

With that said Eric dropped his upper body onto Donna's lap; his fears and worry now gone after being replaced with a feeling of defeat. But while Eric was already ready to say goodbye to the cruel world, Donna and Hyde looked at each other each wearing expression that told they other that they needed to come up with another solution to protect themselves, Eric, and most of all Jackie.

0o0o0o

He'd had to drive all around town, which had grown quite a bit since the seventies, and he'd gotten stuck in traffic for a good twenty minutes thanks to the local Thanksgiving youth parade but at last Red Forman had found the Holy Grail!

Or in this case an open supermarket.

It wasn't one of the major chain supermarkets and instead was one of those Mom and Pop kind of supermarkets that time seemed to have forgotten. And today that was a good thing since by the looks of the not so full parking lot, the store was still forgotten about! If the store was really as empty and forgotten about, Red thought he might consider doing his all grocery shopping here from now on if only to get away from the dumbasses that filled up stores like The Piggly Wiggly and PriceMart—plus, he'd be helping out the little man.

Relieved not to have to go through another parking spot hunt, Red pulled into an empty space without giving it another thought.

Climbing out of the car and heading over to the store's entrance, Red went over the mental list of items that he needed to get. Bread, sour cream, and….eggs…and there was something else…ground cloves! Four items, that was it and as long as the store carried all four of these items Red would be in and out of there in fifteen minutes tops and could very well make it back to catch the end of the game he'd been watching before being sent out on this 'adventure.'

Wearing a small smirk, Red couldn't help but think about how he should've started here in the beginning.

Red pulled open the glass door but the ringing of the little golden bell above the door was barely audible thanks to the loud chatter coming from the crowds of people that filled up the inside of the small store.

Frozen in his tracks, Red scowled at the scene in front of him. People filling up the aisles, long lines at the registers, and you didn't have to listen too closely to hear the sounds of women fighting over the last can of pumpkin filling. Red didn't understand it, how could there be this many people in this little store…wasn't it come kind of fire hazard? There weren't even that many cars in the parking lot, had they all come over here in damn clown cars?

However Red didn't try to understand it and instead he let out the first four words that came into his mind.

"Son of a bitch." He grumbled looking up skywards and away from the chaotic mess in front of him.

This Thanksgiving kept getting longer and longer, Red was beginning to think that it would never come to an end.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__So what did you think? Yay? Nay? Want to read more or should I just move on? Let me know in a review!_

_Like I said, I'm still in the process of coming up with a posting schedule but hearing from readers and letting me know you all are there will help me out a great deal. I may post two shorter chapters each week or one long chapter once a week…maybe a mix of both for the month of November. I don't know yet but that's what I'm looking at right now :D_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, have a nice day, and remember only 23 more days till Thanksgiving 2013!_


	15. Corn Bread

_**Disclaimer: **__I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **__Hello all! How are you? Hope you're doing well? First off I am so so very sorry for not updating at all last week. I feel so terrible about it but I just couldn't update. I tired, but the desire to write wasn't there. Last week was just a hard week for myself and my family, and thank you all for your kind and supportive words. Also thank you so much for all of the amazing reviews and words of encouragement. I am so happy that so many of you came back to read the story and even a few new readers have joined in! Hello new readers and welcome! Of course this only made me feel worse about not updating but really, I do feel awful and do plan on having two chapters up this week. Here's the first one :D Thank you all for your amazing words, I'm sorry I didn't get to send to many thank you notes for the last chapter, I was actually writing some when things took a turn for the worst so not good memories there, still your words of encouragement have meant just so much, thank you! Lots of hugs to you! Hope you all enjoy this piece, sorry if it's not the best, it was kinda hard to write in parts for me personally. Thanks again for reading, please review if you can, I would love to hear your thoughts, I hope you like it, and as always, please Enjoy!_

* * *

Up in the Forman living room the scene appeared to be the same. The TV was on with the game system plugged in and the eight pairs of eyes glued to the screen as they watched the game unfold. Kitty's hands continued to clutch the game controller, only this game controller wasn't the one hooked up to the actual game.

It was DJ's turn to play and while it had taken Kitty quite a bit of convincing to give up the controller, she gave in and handed the game piece over to her grandkids only to pick up the nearby spare one. Of course, Kitty knew this remote wasn't plugged into the game and she wasn't really playing the game but she pretended that she was, using it as a kind of training to help her memorize the buttons and the actions each of them preformed.

While Kitty was practicing for her next turn the youngsters were fine just enjoying watching the game be played out by one of their older cousins. There were still a few shouts and kicks given by the audience members but not quite as much as before, instead they had decided to give the DJ some silence to help him concentrate on the game and hopefully help him to is victory.

The sad 'Game over' tune told the group that the quietness had been a nice gesture but wasn't enough.

Somber looks were exchanged between the group and Luke even gave DJ a 'good try' pat on the back but the supportive and good sportsmanship moment was swiftly brought to an end when their grandmother saw that the current turn was over.

"Oh good it's my turn now!" she said excitedly, already reaching for the remote.

Becky took the controller from her twin brother's hands to keep it out of Kitty's reach, she shook her head, "No, not yet Grandma. We have to share and take turns."

"I have shared plenty." Kitty argued, "It's my turn. First it was Luke, then Mandy, then you, Betsy, DJ, and then me. You see it's my turn,"

"You forgot Mikey."Luke pointed out.

Then Becky nodded the confirmation, "The order was Luke, Mandy, Me, Betsy, DJ, Mikey, _and_ _then_ you, Grandma."

Staring back at her grandchildren Kitty blinked her eyes several times, she knew it wouldn't be worth the fight so moved her open palms up, "Okay, fine! It's Mikey's turn."

Just as Mikey was handed the game controller so that his turn at playing could start, Kitty came up with an idea and wasted no time on acting on it.

"Mikey sweetie, how about I trade you your turn for another cookie?" she offered, it was a bribe that had been working so well before—especially with the younger ones—she could only hope that it would work now too. She was sure if she played now she would play much better than she was playing before.

The youngest Kelso thought over the offer. He was silent for several moments as he weighed the options he had before finally coming to a decision.

"Okay." He nodded causing Kitty's smile to double in size, "But only cuz I like you, Grandma Kitty. And you make the best cookies in the world."

Kitty was clearly touched by the sweet words though not enough to let him have a cookie and keep his turn; however it did get him a quick hug and matching kiss on the head before she grabbed the controller and then turned to the plate of cookies she had placed on the side.

"That is just so sweet." She continued to gush on until her eyes landed on the plate of cookies that now held nothing but a few crumbs. "Oh." She said realizing she had a problem however, before any of the kids could figure it out, Kitty had come up with a solution "Oh, okay, okay!"

She grabbed a nearby pencil and ripped off a piece the magazine it laid upon; quickly scribbling something down on it, Kitty turned back around with the small piece of paper held proudly between her fingers.

"Here you are, dear." Kitty told Mikey as she handed it to him.

Mikey scowled at the 'gift' he'd been given. He turned it over and examined it as best he could but all he could find was the capital letters of 'I.O.U.'

"This isn't a cookie!" he declared, clearly upset.

"I know, I know." nodded Kitty before she went on to explain her actions, "It's an I.O.U. for a cookie."

The young boy still looked puzzled and so Kitty knew her explanation needed further elaboration.

"That means I owe you a cookie and you'll get that cookie as soon as I win this turtle game." She said happily giggling before turning her attention to the television screen so she could start playing.

While Kitty appeared to be nothing but happy, Mikey's face showed his clear disappointment as he turned his back to the woman he consider another grandmother and faced his cousins—who didn't appear to be all to happy either.

"I'm never gonna get that cookie." He muttered.

Kitty didn't appear to have heard the young boy, or if she had she chose to ignore him and focus on the video game in front of her. She gripped the remote in her hands and moved her eyes to the screen finding a different setting than what she was use to. It looked like the kids had unlocked some new levels.

"Okay, where do I go now?" she asked for a bit of help.

Though the kids didn't exactly enjoy explaining every part of the game to their grandma, they couldn't just ignore her either.

This time it was Hyde's son who gave Kitty the directions she needed, "Go over to that ladder thing there." he told her, "And that'll get you to the next part where you get to go in the water."

"Oh well that sounds like fun." Kitty smiled and began to move her turtle towards the next port, "Does Michael Angelo get to change into some swim trunks before getting into the pool?"

Five of the seven grandchildren looked at each other, exchanging looks that were mixed of confusion and expression that seemed to ask 'What are we supposed to do now?' The other two younger grandkids, Ricky and Katey just laughed and smiled at their silly grandma. Their grandma who still hadn't climbed down the ladder to start the next level—she was waiting for a response from the children.

"Um, no. No swim trunks." DJ replied, "It's not exactly a swimming pool."

Luke nodded beside him, "Yeah, it's like…an ocean…you have make your turtle swim deep in the water and turn off all the bombs before you run out of time."

Hearing this explanation only made Kitty more confused about the game, it clearly wasn't the educational game she thought it might have been and instead was teaching her grandchildren nonsense, "Well this is just silly. First pizza makes the turtles healthy and now there are bombs underwater?"

"They're underwater, waterproof bombs, Grandma." Mandy tried to explain.

"Okay," Kitty accepted that point but still had another argument to make, "But what about the turtles swimming deep in the water? Turtles can't do that."

"Yes, they can." Luke replied in a tired tone.

The young Forman didn't want to argue with his grandmother, he was just hoping that if he gave simple yes or no kind of answers she would stop asking questions and they could finish their talk about the game and start actually playing it. On the television screen, Michael Angelo was still standing just inches away from the entrance to the next level; his stance showed he was ready for battle but Luke was sure that with how long Grandma Kitty was taking, Michael Angelo must be getting tired from keeping that pose.

Kitty shook her head, "No, no they can't, isn't that right, Betsy?" she asked turning to the oldest and smartest of the group.

Betsy gave the questions some thought before deciding on an answer, "Well some turtles can swim deep in the water like sea turtles and other aquatic turtles but I don't know about regular turtles like these guys."

"They aren't regular turtles!" her younger brother argued back, "They're _ninjas_! So they can do anything. If they want to swim they can swim cuz they're _ninjas_."

"Plus the fact that they're you know, mutants." Luke added in a tone that sounded much like his father's.

Mikey nodded, "Yeah, but mostly ninjas." He was also a lot like his father.

"They do swim in the city sewers where they live." Mandy threw in.

This news made Kitty's nose wrinkle in disgust, "Oh well that just isn't sanitary."

"Grandma!" the small crowd of kids shouted out together,

Their outburst quickly reminded Kitty of the game and she cleared her mind of the unsanitary and unsafe things these mutant turtles were teaching her grandchildren, focusing on playing the game once again. Maybe there was something good about it, there had to be for the children to like it so much.

Quickly she pressed the arrow buttons on the controller finally getting Michael Angelo down the white ladder and into the next level.

The new level looked very different from the others. There were no different stages piled onto each other, there weren't any enemies roaming around there was just water and more water and some odd looking item at the corner of the screen with a clock and some wires. The underwater bomb, Kitty assumed. However despite recognizing the thing, the new setting was alarming and made Kitty more than a bit anxious so she turned to her grandchildren for help once again.

"Okay…okay what do I do?"

Luke pointed at the cartoon bomb at the corner of the screen "Swim down to that bomb over there and turn it off."

Trying to move as fast as she could, Kitty moved Michael Angelo to the bomb and took a few chances at pressing some buttons to turn of the bomb. After hitting the bomb twice with his fist, Kitty finally found the correct button to make Michael Angelo turn off the bomb.

Kitty was proud of herself having turned off the bomb on her own and not having the thing explode on her while she did so but she knew the level wasn't over yet, "Now what?"

"I saw something on top!" Ricky shouted out, pointing at the TV.

"Swim up to the top, Grandma." DJ instructed, "And turn off that bomb there…_there_!"

Seeing the bomb that was being talked about Kitty moved Michael Angelo over to the bomb and repeated her actions form before, successfully turning off the second bomb—and this time without punching it!

"Okay?" Kitty said once the second bomb was disconnected.

"Okay, now just keep swimming right until you see another bomb and then go turn it off. You have to turn them all off before the time at the bottom runs out." Coached DJ before he assured, "Don't worry we'll help you out."

After giving a quick glance at the clock at the time at the bottom, that read less than two minutes, Kitty nodded and fixed her eyes on finding the explosives.

Luke could tell that his grandma was a bit tense and maybe was taking the game too seriously, she seemed really determine to pass this level and was probably worried that she wouldn't after how 'well' her previous turns had ended. He decided to speak up and give some of his own reassurance to her.

"It's okay, grandma. This level is really easy. All you have to do is turn off the bombs. There aren't any Fire Freaks or Mousers to fight off. You don't have anything to worry about except…"before Luke could finish his eyes caught the sight of Michael Angelo swimming and getting electrocuted by the long glowy squiggly line that had suddenly appeared, "The electric fences."

Kitty scowled at the TV, "Well now who ever heard of electric fences underwater?"

"Not you apparently." Mikey Kelso muttered.

This time the muttered words were in fact heard by Kitty and did not go ignored either. She turned to the young boy and snatched the I.O.U. paper right out of his hand then placed it off to the side before getting back to her turn at the game.

0o0o0o

"The Stripper That Came to Thanksgiving Dinner…page one…" Kelso wrote onto to clean sheet of pair.

He and his co-author worked in their new office in the part of the basement that had once been Hyde's old room. There wasn't too much stuff left in the old room, just a few cardboard boxes and a few of Hyde's old things that he never took with him like the old arm chair that Kelso was currently seated on. It was a piece of furniture that was in worse condition that basement sofa. However, the lack of items in the room was beneficial for the two 'writers' it kept them from getting too distracted by anything that looked interesting, odd, or just shinny.

While Kelso seemed to have that seriousness down and looked ready to work, Fez appeared more nervous as he stood close by.

"Aye Kelso," the foreigner spoke nervously," I…I do not know if this is a good idea for a children's book."

The pretty man's head shot up and he looked at his best friend as if he were crazy, "What are you talking about, Fez? It's the perfect idea for a children's book! I can't believe no one's ever done it before."

"But…but there is a stripper in the story." Fez pointed out.

He had first been a fan of the story idea but when he remembered his own children and his wife, mostly her reaction if she found him reading them a story about a stripper, Fez realized he didn't want to put any man through that with their own wives.

"I know." Kelso replied causally, when he saw the worried look still on his friends face he sighed and began to explain, "Look Fez, I've read lots of children's books, even before I had kids. And they're good…the ones with the monkey and the guy that loves yellow way to much are even pretty cool. But they're still missing that something. And you know what they're missing?"

Fez still didn't look like he had been won over, "A stripper?"

"Exactly!" the other man grinned largely, "Now there'll be something for both the kids and the dad's reading the story!"

Kelso really did look like he thought this story plot was the best idea since sliced bread; there was no way he would be giving up on it just yet. But Fez just continued to pout from his spot beside him.

"This was supposed to be a Thanksgiving story." reminded the scowling Fez.

"Yeah, the stripper's coming to _Thanksgiving_ dinner. It's not any regular dinner, Fez."

The foreigner angrily crossed his arms over his chest and gave a stomp of his right foot, "I want there to be a turkey!"

"Fez…"

"I said turkey!"

The frustrated looked on Kelso's face faded into look that could be described with another F word. Fear.

"Okay, okay. They'll be a turkey Fez." he said in a calm tone, hoping it would calm his friend down, "It'll be the dead one on the dinner table that the stripper and everyone else will eat later."

Fez's brown eyes widened, "You sonofabitch I want a live turkey!"

"Look Fez, there's no room for a turkey in a Thanksgiving story." the taller man informed clearly getting upset by the different directions that he and his partner were trying to take the one story in, "There's already a stripper!"

"Maybe he can be the stripper's wisecracking best friend?" Fez made a feeble suggestion.

The idea may have sounded crazy but Michael Kelso was known for his love of crazy things. As soon as the words were said Kelso's frown unscrunched and his eyebrows rose up with interest before he looked up at his longtime friend.

"I could see that." he confirmed with a nod.

A bright smile shone on Fez's face, "Oh joy!"

Suddenly Kelso spoke up before too much excitement was had, "_But_ if we're gonna add a new character it means we have to add more details too. Like a name" Kelso went on, seeing Fez nod.

"Right."

Kelso then stood up from his seat to walk around the room—he'd always seen it in movies that walking around helped a person think. Meanwhile Fez slipped into the open seat and picked up the pad and pencil and jotted down his own thought along with anything Kelso said.

"We gotta pick out a name and it's gotta be good. A name that fits with a turkey…and thanksgiving is an American holiday so…" he moved his hand under his chin, another thing he saw in the movies, to show how deep in thought he was, "We need a good name…a good turkey name…A good turkey American name..."

"I got it!" Fez happily shouted, "Pablo Juan Francisco Hernandez the Turkey!"

With a blank expression his face, Kelso stared back at his foreign friend.

"Fez…that is brilliant!" he shouted, letting his own smile appear, "Write it down, write it down!"

Wearing a smile that was identical to his friend's, Fez nodded his head and then began to write his notes down onto the sheet of paper on his lap. Kelso was glad they had one detail figured out but there was still plenty more to do. He went back to his pacing.

"Okay, now to the important stuff." He spoke in a firm tone, "What's the stripper's name?"

Fez looked up from his notes wearing a frown on his face, "No, we are not done talking about Pablo Juan Francisco Hernandez. What will he look like?"

"I don't know." Kelso groaned with annoyance he didn't want to talk about what a turkey looked like, why couldn't they talk about what the stripper looked like instead, "A turkey."

"I want him to have a hat." Fez mused aloud.

Kelso was intrigued, "What kind of hat?"

"Like the feather ones the Indians wear."

"I don't know, Fez I think it should be a pilgrim hat instead." Kelso argued before giving his reasons, "The Indian feathers are gonna just mix up with his turkey feathers."

The eraser end of the pencil was wagged in Kelso direction, "Good point, good point."

As Fez added more notes on Pablo's character and his appearance, Kelso was ready to get things back on track.

"Okay, back to the important stuff." He paused to figure out what kind stuff really was important for their thanksgiving story, "What kind of hat should the stripper be wearing?"

Fez thought over the question for a few seconds before coming up with an idea, "A pirate hat!"

"Fez, seriously man." Kelso began, "How are you coming up with all these great ideas?"

The foreigner gave a mere shrug as he smiled shyly when he felt his friend pat his back before he started adding more outline information for their story to the paper.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__So what did you think? Good? Bad? A little of both? Be sure to let me know what you think in a review!_

_Again, I'm terribly sorry for not updating last week I do plan to make it up to you all in the weeks to come with this story and updates if you all are still interested and not too mad at me._

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, have a nice day and remember only 11 more days till Thanksgiving 2013!_


	16. Lime Green Jell-o Salad

_**Disclaimer: **__I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **__Hello everyone! How are you? Hope you're doing well and getting ready for the big holiday! Only a few days away! And so today I've got for you a new chapter for this Thanksgiving story. Sorry I didn't do the double update last week as I had planned but I've gotten swamped with school work—it always happens at the end, doesn't it? And I figured a double update would be better the week of thanksgiving rather than the week before. Hope you don't mind! Thanks to everyone one again for all of the wonderful reviews, favorites, and alerts! New and old readers you are all so awesome! I thank you so very much for all of your support! *hugs* Thanks for stopping by for the read. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please review if you can, I'd love to hear your thoughts. And as always, Enjoy!_

* * *

Shopping at the small grocery store wasn't as bad as Red thought it would be. Sure, the store was crowded with people but it appeared that these people had come to shop for items that weren't the same items that Red had come for nor were they too close to where his items were stocked.

The list of items that Red had come for weren't exactly pure Thanksgiving items, they were things that could be used for any meal and Red was very thankful for that. And as he passed by the situations other shoppers had to endure he became even more thankful.

The aisle of can goods looked more like a packed can of sardines and just passing by the overcrowded area of where the uncooked turkeys were kept had given him war flashbacks. There were a few people in the store who weren't buying Thanksgiving items though and instead were stocking up for Christmas. Like the guy who had boxes of candy canes in his basket. Dumbass.

Red grabbed the loaf of bread and placed it at the top of the small pile of food that he held in his arms. He refused to get a cart, after all he was only coming in for five items and pushing the damn thing would only slow him down.

Bread was the last item on Red's list and knowing this made him smirk. He'd been able to gather his stuff in this dumbass-filled store in less than fifteen minutes.

He continued to wear his smug smirk as he walked away from the bread and headed for the registers at the front of the store. He only had to walk through one more aisle and he'd be there. However, when Red reached the start of the aisle he realized that was easier said than done.

The walkway he had to get through to get over to the cashiers was a mess! It wasn't as bad as the sardines in aisle four but there were enough people in the small area to tell Red that it may take a longer amount of time to get through the space than the time it took for him to get the items he'd come for.

An easy way out of this would have been to go through the aisle that was on the left or right of this one but Red made no move towards either. Instead Red let his training kick in—his training from the war, from the sports he played in high school, even the training from avoiding the dumbasses in his house—he was going in.

Stepping into the aisle, Red tried to move as swiftly as he could without running into anything or have anything bump into him. He moved to the right to avoid a shopper on the left. He switched the left to dodge another shopper on the right and then back to the right again.

There were some spilt boxes of stuffing mix, a few had been torn open, its contents scattered on the floor, that hadn't been picked up by any of the workers yet and of course the customers were only making a bigger mess of it. To avoid the clutter, Red thought quickly and stretched one leg over the mess and swung the other to join over.

Nearing the end of the aisle, Red kept moving at a brisk pace while holding onto his stack of food—he couldn't afford to drop something and then have to go back for it. You may not leave a man behind but Red would have no trouble leaving a thing of ground cloves behind.

Up ahead he could see two dumbasses not paying attention to where they were going which would surely cause their buggies to crash into each other causing an uproar that Red did not have time for. He picked up his pace, paying close attention to the baskets that were slowly getting closer and closer together. Once he got past this he was in the clear and out of the aisle for good. Taking the opportunity as soon as he had it, Red squeezed between the two baskets just seconds before the two carts bumped into each other and the morons pushing them began to shout at each other.

Red could care less about the shouts behind him because they were behind him—he had made it through! He grinned triumphantly until he caught the new sight that was in front of him.

This had to be the busiest day of the year for this store but the dumbasses running the place only had three damn register open! Sure the total was five and two more registers may not have made a difference on any other day but on a day that Red Forman was trying to get back home to his Thanksgiving tradition of watching the football game on TV it made a big difference.

The lines were about the same, seven to eight people in each of them so there wasn't one that was better than the other.

With a sense of defeat weighing over him Red practically dragged himself to the spot behind the large woman with even larger hair standing in line at register number one.

0o0o0o

"There it is!" Jackie happily exclaimed, "The perfect bow and it only took me three tries. I knew this wouldn't be so hard!"

Her words had been in reference to the front bow she had made of the apron strings from Kitty's red apron that Jackie was now wearing. She hadn't been talking to anyone in particular since the kitchen was empty with the exception of the food and pots covering the counter tops.

With her apron now on securely and perfectly, Jackie leaned down to check her reflection in the shinny toaster on the counter. She wanted to make sure the updo she had put her hair in wasn't a fancy prom kind of updo; however at the same time she didn't want her hair to look like a total bird's nest kind of mess. It took her a few seconds to adjust her do—moving some strands up and pulling a few down. After a few minutes she at last had the causal messy updo that looked like she had just thrown it up in any way. It was by no means an easy look to achieve even for her!

Once her hair was fixed, she straightened her body out, placed her hands on her hips, and smiled. She was ready to get to work! Though after a mere pause, Jackie's smile faded into a small frown.

"Now what?" she asked the empty room again.

When she received no answer she decided to look for one herself by looking around the room.

There was the turkey that needed basting but Kitty had set a timer for that and it hadn't gone off yet so basting was out. Jackie was slightly glad about that, she was still grossed out about the whole turkey sweat stuff. There were pots filled with…stuff cooking on the stove. But since nothing was bubbling over or on fire, Jackie figured it was cooking just fine. Besides she wanted to cook something on her own.

She turned to the already made food, waiting on the top of the counter and bar. There were plenty of dishes there already ready like the mash potatoes, the green bean casserole, and Kitty's special yams among a few others. Still there were plenty of other dishes that were missing from the line up. The rolls, the stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn, sweat potatoes…

Those were the dishes Jackie could make! But there was one problem; she didn't know who to make any of those dishes…minus the cranberry sauce, she did know how to use a can opener.

But while Jackie didn't know how to prepare these side dishes she did know someone who did.

Jackie turned on her heel and headed into the Forman living and walked into a scene that looked just like the one she had left many minutes before. The kids were still absorbed in their video game but it was the oldest of the group that had the controller and turn at the game now. Hopefully though, she could still help Jackie out with some cooking advice.

"Kitty," the brunette called out as she walked over to the blonde mother, but she appeared to be too wrapped up in the game to hear anything so Jackie called again this time giving her left shoulder a slight push, "Kitty?"

This movement surprised Kitty and she looked to her left for only a second before turning back to the TV screen as she made her Ninja Turtle jump onto another floor of enemies; as Kitty looked back at the game Jackie could have sworn she heard a very, very quick 'What?'

Taking what she thought she heard as an invitation, Jackie sat herself on the piano bench, "Where do you keep your recipes?"

"What…what recipes, Jackie?" Kitty asked, her eyes glued on the screen and her thumbs pressing down on the buttons of the remote.

"Your Thanksgiving dinner recipes." Jackie answered as if it were obvious.

The mention of Thanksgiving dinner seemed to snap Kitty out of her videogame trance and she looked at her daughter-in-law with a smile, "Oh Jackie, honey I've been making Thanksgiving dinner for so long, I haven't needed to follow the recipes in years."

As Kitty turned her attention back to the videogame to see what her grandchildren were squealing about, Jackie began to panic. The kids had apparently be trying to warn Kitty about the incoming Mousers and luckily Kitty had seen them in time to fight back and not be killed instantly. While Kitty played on Jackie wasn't giving up either.

"But you do have them written down somewhere right?" she asked rather quickly, "I mean what if someone wanted one of the recipes? Or what if you hit your head and got amnesia and couldn't remember any of the recipes. You really need to have them written down, Kitty."

Kitty struggled to stay focused on the game and Jackie at the same time. She looked back and forth between the two several times but it wasn't until she defeated one Mouser that she looked at Jackie completely.

"Well I do have them written down on some cards I have in my recipe box." Kitty explained and then went back to the game.

Jackie's face lit up at this news but squished into a frown again when she realized she wasn't quite sure where this recipe box was…or maybe she did.

"Wait is that that little box in the kitchen with the green and orange flowers painted on it?" she questioned, her small frown still in place, "I always thought that was where you hid your secret stash of cigarettes from Red."

Instantly Kitty looked away from the video and stared at Jackie with wide, shocked eyes before letting out a loud and very nervous Kitty Forman laugh that cut off abruptly as she said in a very serious tone, "Don't tell Red."

The younger woman nodded before lifting her fingers up to her lips to zip up the imaginary zipper. That signal seemed to be enough for Kitty and she once again looked back at the game just in time to battle an incoming and much bigger Mouser.

"So the recipes are in the box?"

"Uh…huh…" Kitty replied only half listening now, her main focus was on the game and defeating her opponent.

Jackie grinned and popped out of her seat, "Okay, great! Thanks, bye."

She headed back towards the kitchen, once again walking behind the sofa. She needed to get out of there before Kitty realized what she was doing and tried to stop her from finishing up Thanksgiving dinner. She had been quite lucky that Kitty had been so absorbed in the game during their conversation otherwise her plan wouldn't have worked and she would have been back in the basement hearing Eric whine on about him being a 'cool teacher.'

Kitty pressed the button that delivered the ending punch to the Mouser and it was then that she took in the conversation she had just had with her adopted son's wife.

"Jackie."

There were only a few feet between her and the swinging door when Jackie heard her name be called and she turned to find Kitty no longer with her eyes fixed on the TV screen but rather her and she didn't appear all too happy.

"Jackie, why are you asking about my Thanksgiving dinner recipes?" she asked curiously.

Looking like a deer caught in the headlights Jackie began to struggle, "Uh…um…"

"Grandma, look out!" Luke shouted.

Kitty's head swung back to the TV screen and found that the Mouser she thought she had defeated was still up and wanting to fight—he'd even given Kitty's character a few good hits. Seeing this Kitty leapt up from her seat in anger.

"Oh for heaven's sake how many times do I have to hit you for you to die, dumbass?!" Kitty asked her enemy on the screen in a very irritable tone of voice.

Now that Kitty was no longer looking at her, Jackie took the given chance and disappeared behind the kitchen door. Meanwhile the kids sat there in shock, watching their grandmother play even more intense than before. The outburst had certainly startled her grandchildren. Though they weren't unfamiliar with the word, they heard their Grandpa Red say it all the time, they'd never heard their Grandma Kitty say it!

It wasn't until the Mouser was dead that Kitty realized what she had done and said. Of course she did have some help too.

"Grandma said the D-word!" Katie shouted, pointing her finger at Kitty.

"Yes, yes I did." Kitty was ready to admit and not deny what she'd done, "But it was an accident. We don't say that D-word, okay?"

Mandy looked a Kitty and in a tone that reminded her of her daughter said, "You did."

With a stern glare Kitty looked back at her granddaughter, but the message went to all eight of them, "You do as I say, not as I do."

0o0o0o

Red impatiently tapped his foot as he continued to stand in the first line to pay for the groceries. He would have been glancing at his watch too, because he was sure plenty of time had passed, but the items he still held in his arms didn't allow him to do such a thing.

The line for Register One had been moving at a steady speed until the cashiers were switched out and a trainee stepped in to bat. And if that didn't make things bad enough, the dumbass with the cart full of candy canes was the customer currently being checked out. He had to have two hundred boxes of the candy that weren't even in season yet. Red had to do a double take to make sure it wasn't his foreigner of a son-in-law. But of course it wasn't.

As the cashier lost track of the number of boxes she had check out—for the fifth time—and had to start all over again, Red glanced over to the line for Register Two. The line was moving much faster, but at this rate any movement was good, and so without giving it a second thought Red left his line for the one on the right.

Just as Red got into his new spot at the end of line two, it moved up a space and Red grinned. It looked like he'd made the right choice.

"I hope you take penny cash." An old woman's voice said before the sound of a rattling glass jar being placed on the counter was heard, "They're real pennies too. All of them!"

Hearing this Red dropped his head onto the load of bread that was still at the top of his pile of food in his arms.

"Um sir?" a voice called out but Red ignored it, "Um excuse me…sir….using a loaf of bread as a pillow?"

Not too sure if the voice was calling to him, Red lifted his head and frowned as he looked to his right where the voice had come from. There he saw a smiling young man standing behind a full buggy in line Number Three—a line that was moving!

The young blonde man smiled and waved at Red, "You only have a few items, you can cut in front of me."

"Oh." Red wasn't sure of how to react to this kindness of the stranger who was waving him into the spot in front of him there had to be a catch…still, he'd be a dumbass if he stayed in this line so he headed over to line number three, "Thanks."

The man who had to be in his late twenties just smiled, "No problem. It is Thanksgiving after all and that means it's the time for giving." He explained, "And I'm giving you my spot. I'm Greg by the way."

"Uh huh." Red replied, not sure of what else to say, "Well, thanks again, Greg."

"Hey, I know you'd do the same for me." the stranger said optimistically.

"Right." Red nodded and then turned his back to the younger man however this didn't stop the man from trying to make small talk.

Greg craned his neck to get a better look at the stuff in Red's arms, "Whoa, I hope you're using that stuff for different things. I don't think I'd wanna see the contraption that that stuff makes."

Red glanced behind him, not sure if the guy was still talking to him. The grin on his face told him he was.

"I'm only kidding." Greg assured, "You should see some of the stuff that shows up on my family's Thanksgiving table. Like my Uncle Doug's lime green Jell-o salad, he's always adding new stuff to it. One year we're pretty sure he put cat food."

Again Red didn't know what how to respond so he said nothing but Greg went on.

"Yeah, Aunt Kat wasn't too happy about it. She's more of a dog person." He explained, "Even though her name's Kat…but it's with a 'K' not a 'C.' One time she and Aunt Bessie really got into it about that…Oh but Bessie isn't really my Aunt's name. We just call her that cause she looks like a cow. Not that she's fat or anything she just wears a lot of black and white. But you know not all cows are black and white. There're brown cows too and sometime there's cows that are all three colors…."

While Greg rambled on and on Red closed his eyes in frustration.

He knew there was a catch.

This guy was a talker.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__So what did you think? Yay? Nay? Somewhere between? Be sure to let me know in a review!_

_I hope those who have started their thanksgiving break have a good one and those who still need a few more days, like myself, hang in there! Almost there! Also I just wanted to let you know that as long as you readers are okay with it, this story will continue to receive updates come December. Does that sound good?_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, have a nice day, and remember only three more days till Thanksgiving 2013!_


	17. Green Bean Casserole

_**Disclaimer: **__I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **__Hello everyone? How are you? Hope you're doing well and had a very wonderful Thanksgiving and if you went to any Black Friday sales I hope you had fun and didn't get any scar—mentally or physically. I know I didn't get to post yesterday but a reader brought up a good point abut how everyone would be busy with Thanksgiving Family stuff so I decided towait until Friday morning to post this and then well I over slept lol Sorry about that. But I did want to get this new chapter to you soon and keep my word on the double update :D So here it is the new chapter of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" I hope you all enjoy it! Thank you so much for all of your wonderful support it truly means so much and you can bet you wonderful readers are something I was very thankful for not only this Thanksgiving but every day! Again thanks for reading, I really hope that you like it, please review if you can, and as always, Enjoy!_

* * *

It had been almost a full hour since the 'Who tells Jackie about Sam coming to dinner' debate had started. Some good points had been made and some not so good points had been made but neither were any help in deciding which of the two men would be breaking the news to Jackie; the man who invited the stripper or the man who had been married, but as he reminded not really married, to the stripper.

The argument had been so useless that they decided to drop it and take another route to help them decide who would be the bearer of bad news. This new route was one that was much better than any argument or debate. It was matured, fair and had been used to help make other big world decisions.

"Paper…Scissors…Rock!"

Mere seconds after the three words had been said Eric's closed fist was covered by Hyde's open hand.

The curly haired man seated in the old kitchen chair smirked, "Paper covers rock, I win."

"What? No!" Eric exclaimed from his seat on the sofa, his hands still in a fist despite Hyde having removed his 'a paper' "This…this isn't a rock it's a ball of paper. We both picked paper, it's a tie, let's go again."

Hyde wasn't fooled and just shook his head, "You're telling, Jackie."

"Best out of three?" he tried again when Hyde only stared back at him Eric knew it was a loss cause and he gave in with a somber look and a drop of his shoulders, "Fine, I'll tell Jackie. I've lived a decent life."

Donna cut her eyes at her husband, watching him stand up from his seat, she crossed her arms over her chest and frowned, "Excuse me?"

Quickly Eric swung his head towards her and his eyes became large as the realized his mistake, "I meant my life before I married you was decent…ever since we've been married it's been a wonderful life. So wonderful…I bet it would even make Jimmy Stewart jealous."

"Right." the redhead answered, not appearing to be very convinced but instead of focusing on Eric she looked over at her other childhood friend after pushing herself onto her feet, "Hyde, despite Eric's comment that he should suffer for." She glared at Eric once again for just a moment, "I think you should help Eric tell Jackie about Sam coming."

"Why?" Hyde asked, not only did he not want to do it but he didn't see a point him doing it either.

"Because you're Jackie's husband." Donna reasoned, "And you were Sam's husband."

"We were never really married."

Eric looked down at his Zen friend, "Yeah, I know you think that sounds good but I wouldn't open with that."

It was almost as if Hyde had ignored Eric's comment and instead been thinking over the things Donna had said because instead of saying anything about what Eric's words he got out of his seat and nodded his head towards the couple.

"Alright I'll go." he confirmed and while Eric smiled with relief Donna's smile was one that was full of pride; however one of these smiles faded when Hyde spoke again, "But you've gotta go too."

"Me? Why?" Donna scowled.

Hyde shrugged nonchalantly, "You're Jackie's best friend."

"That's true." nodded Eric, "You're also my wife. And…if you don't come you'll be my widow."

"Fine, I'll go." she grumbled and then pointed her finger at her husband, "But you're going in front of me!"

She then took her stance behind Eric, showing that she was ready to go whenever they were. Hyde and Eric watched her before looking at each other but it was Eric who had the next line.

"Okay, okay that's fine, Donna because Hyde is going in front of me."

Eric then went to stand behind Hyde, Donna following close behind him so that she didn't lose her place in line or somehow get pushed up front. Watching the married couple only made Hyde shake his head before he figured they better get this over with and began to head up the basement staircase with his friends not too far behind—although none of them were in any kind of hurry.

Being the leader of the group Hyde realized that he would be the first person to speak and so that meant he had to figure out what exactly he was going to say to his wife about all of this; practically how he was going to set things up to where Eric and Donna would be the one telling her about Sam coming.

When Hyde walked under the doorway that connected the basement and the kitchen he was still trying to find the right words to use, he had an idea but all of it was lost the moment he caught sight of the scene that welcomed him into the next room. Behind him, Eric and Donna were also in for a shock when their eyes saw what Hyde's saw and they nearly caused them to create a literal domino effect when Donna bumped into Eric's back causing him to crash into Hyde; luckily Hyde was sturdy enough (and not in too much of a shell shock) to keep from tumbling over.

Their reaction to the scene could have been a bit exaggerated but at the same time it was right on target. After all, how often did you find Jackie B. Hyde standing in a kitchen full of food, _Thanksgiving food_, with her hair tied up, apron on, and looking at recipe cards?

"Jackie?" Hyde called out a bit cautiously—maybe it wasn't really her, "What're you doing?"

The dark haired woman turned her head to her husband and flashed him and their friends a grand smile, "I'm making Thanksgiving dinner."

"Oh my God. This is how she's gonna get me." Eric said in a high pitched whisper, "I knew it would be painful!"

"Oh, cool. It's cool you're helping Mom out with dinner." Hyde said as he nodded and walked towards Jackie, leaving the motionless Eric and Donna in the doorway.

He wasn't as surprised or frightened as before. Jackie was just helping Kitty out in the kitchen. Thanksgiving was a big meal and it could take a toll on a person especially when it was just that one person making the whole meal. Kitty had never complained about things and always insisted that she enjoyed making the holiday meal for her family but as the years went on and Kitty got older, Hyde couldn't help but worry about his surrogate mother; he was glad and even proud that his wife had stepped in to lend a helping hand.

"Steven, I'm not _helping_ making dinner, I'm making dinner." Jackie happily corrected with her grin still in place, while Hyde's looked to have dropped a few inches. "Kitty's busy in the living room spending time with kids so I'm taking over Thanksgiving dinner."

Donna's brow furrowed at this information, "Does Kitty know about this?"

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." came Jackie's reply.

"It might hurt the rest of us." Eric muttered several feet away.

Jackie frowned at Eric and then looked at Hyde, "What did he say?"

"It's Forman, it's probably somethin' _Star Wars_ related." Hyde said in response and Jackie moved her head up and down in agreement, "Jackie, you making Thanksgiving dinner…" he suddenly drifted off as he was captivated by the big doe eyes looking at him and a new thought struck up in his mind, "I think it's great."

The smile on Jackie's face doubled in size and she threw her arms around her husband's neck, "Oh thank you, Steven!" she had been afraid everyone would be against her cooking but now even if they were it wouldn't matter because she had her husband on her side. She gave him a quick kiss and then pulled away to get back to work.

"Okay Steven, since you're the cook in our family I have a chef question for you." she pointed at a small rectangular card on eh counter in front of her, "This recipe says I should fold in the eggs but it doesn't say _what_ I fold them into."

Hyde stared at the index card not sure of how to reply to that, "Um why don't you skip that one."

"Oh." Jackie said, looking and sounding disappointed.

"There's other ones to pick from, Jackie."

Looking down at the stack of card, Jackie nodded, "That's true, but there's so many to choose from…"

"Do 'em all." he suggested in a casual manner, "Or as many as you want."

"Really?" Jackie asked with her right eyebrow arched upwards.

He nodded, "Yeah, you can do it. I believe in you, doll."

Jackie was touched by his words and her smile made a reappearance. However, before she should reward his for his kindness one of their audience members decided to step into the scene.

"Hey, I believe in you too, Jackie." Eric quickly said causing Jackie's suspicion to rise again, it wasn't every day that Eric told her that he had faith in her…he hardly ever said anything nice to her. "I mean you're Jackie! You're good at everything!"

"That's what I said!" Jackie said excitedly and Eric pretended to be excited with her; she no longer worried about what he told her but she did notice that one person haDn't told her anything. "Donna, what do you think?"

Donna was still standing by the basement in shock. However, she wasn't sure what caught her more off guard: seeing Jackie getting ready to cook Thanksgiving dinner or seeing Hyde and Eric supporting the idea of her making the holiday dinner. With the brunette's eyes on her, Donna knew she had to come up with an answer so she did her best to pull herself together and string up enough words to make a reply.

"Um yeah, I think it's great too. I could even help you out if you want. It could be fun," She offered.

"Oh Donna," Jackie began sweetly before adding an abrupt, "No."

Hearing the last part of Jackie's response made Donna frown but before she could say anything Hyde was speaking again.

"Alright, we'll let you get back to your cooking. Good luck." He told her before kissing the top of her head and then heading back to the basement.

"She doesn't need luck Hyde, she's Jackie." Eric said as Hyde walked past him, he then turned back to Jackie, "By the way Jackie, did I tell you how great your cooking attire looks?"

Though Jackie thought it was still odd to get compliments form Eric of all people, she couldn't disagree with the truth so instead she just smiled at him before he walked the same path Hyde took to the basement.

Hyde and Eric had already disappeared into the basement for a few seconds but Donna remained in the kitchen a little longer still trying to figure out just what it was she had witnessed. Finally she managed to get the movement back in her legs and turned around, leaving Jackie alone in the kitchen and going down to the basement to get some much needed answers.

"What the hell?" She asked as soon as she was in the seating area of the lower part of the house; her husband and friend were back in their regular seats watching a parade, "Since when are you so nice to Jackie?"

Eric looked up at the fuming redhead, "I know. I feel like I should wash my mouth out with soap now." He said but the unamused look on her face told him to be serious, "Donna, I'm already on thin ice with Jackie. I've been on thin ice with her for years; this Sam thing could be the things that finally sets her off, I need to start making up for the past now. If she says ABBA is better than Styx, I'm gonna have to painfully agree."

"Styx and ABBA?" Hyde repeated, "There's no winner there."

Donna turned to look at the former teenage rebel, "And you? Supporting Jackie's idea of taking over Thanksgiving dinner?"

"She wants to do it." Hyde remarked.

"So you're seriously okay with her making dinner?"

Hyde shrugged, "Yeah, but I'm more okay with the idea of her being stuck in the kitchen working on dinner and not near the front door."

While Donna was still processing what Hyde had said and tried to understand what he meant by that Eric had cracked the code and seemed to be in favor of the idea.

"So she won't see Sam as soon as she comes in!" he declared.

Nodding his head, Hyde went on to explain more of what he had in mind "She might not even see her at all if we can explain everything to Sam before anyone else sees her."

"That is brilliant!" Eric exclaimed happily and became serious once more, "And I don't mean Kelso brilliant."

An appreciative smile came onto Hyde's lips as he continued to sit in his chair and Eric began to get comfortable in his own. Their troubles from moments before looked to be long gone…or at least in their minds they thought they had nothing to worry about. It was a sight made Donna upset.

"You know there's a chance that things won't work out like that at all right?" she reminded in a questioning tone.

Glancing up at her, Hyde asked, "You wanna tell her?"

Donna knew her answer after only a few seconds.

"Scoot over."

Wearing a small smile on his lips, her husband did as he was told, scooting towards the middle of the couch and she dropped into his previous spot hoping things worked out.

0o0o0o

"Yeah that year we spent all Thanksgiving playing some good old football. And then the winning team got to eat a bug." Greg rambled on to a very bored looking Red, "Usually it's the loosing team that eats the bug but these bugs were chocolate covered. But you know, I was on the winning team that year and we should've let the loosing team have the bugs."

Red nodded his head just as he did five other times when Greg brought a story to a close. Each time he was hopeful that the guy would run out of stories or the line would move up and each time he had been wrong It had now been fifteen minutes since the line had moved at all and that was all thanks to the Coupon Lady at the front of the line; of course Greg's stories were doing little to help pass the slow passing time.

"Playing football's probably my favorite part of Thanksgiving." He went on, "And the food and the family and Cousin Phyllis's pumpkin pie…" his voice started to crack with emotion, "and Mom's lumpy gravy and the way Grandpa makes the turkey dance around in the kitchen…I miss home!"

Greg cried out his words before dropping his head onto the handle of his cart and letting out more audible cries. Watching him, Red scowled in annoyance he was about to turn his back to the young man when he got an idea.

"Hey," he called towards the back of line number two.

He wasn't calling out to anyone in particular and instead waited to see which dumbass would look over. The lucky person was a middle aged man who looked quite out of place in his suit and tie and long length coat. He'd first looked to his left and then to his right, frowning and looking for someone who Red could have been calling for when he saw one he pointed his finger at his confused looking self. Since no one else was looking over Red nodded at the man and waved him over.

Cautiously the man took his hand held basket and walked towards the grinning Red.

"Yes?" he asked sounding a bit nervous, his sophisticated tone showed he was even more out of place in here than Red thought.

Not sure how long he could keep this fake smile in place, Red began, "Look you've only got a few items and it's Thanksgiving." He said and remembered Greg's word to him, "So I'm giving you the space behind me."

The suited man frowned first at Red then at the crying Greg and then back at Red again.

"Are you sure it's okay with…him?" he asked

"Sure it is." Red assured still grinning, "Right, Greg."

There was a sniffling sound before Greg's head lifted up from the basket, his eyes were tearing and his checks had the stains of his previous tears but he still managed to give a smile that was more real than Red's. He lifted his arm and ran the end of his sleeve against his nose.

"Right." he nodded and the stuck out his hand that came out from the same sleeve that he had used as a tissue, "Hi, I'm Greg."

The new stranger could not take his eyes off the hand in front of him as he stared at it with disgust, "Hello." He at last tore his eyes away from Greg's hand and looked at Red giving a polite smile, "Thank you." he turned back to Greg's germ filled sleeve, "No thank you."

As soon as the new guy was in his new spot, Greg couldn't help his curiosity as he took a quick look at what was inside the basket that hung off the man's arm. He was more than a little happy to see a familiar item.

"Hey you've got lime green jell-o mix!" he said with excitement, his tears from before forgotten, "My Uncle Doug makes the best lime green Jell-o. I mean no offense against yours, I'm sure it's great." Greg made sure to add, "But my Uncle Doug always adds new things to his. One year we think he added cat food…"

While the man who now stood in Red's spot had on a expression that showed his fear and disgust, Red was one spot ahead and grinning a smile that was much more real than before. Sure he could hear the story that he'd already heard earlier but this time it wasn't being directly told to him and as long as suit guy stayed there none of Greg's upcoming stories would be. Just then the Coupon Lady gathered her bags and left the line, making everyone else take a few steps forward.

Maybe just maybe things were starting to look up.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__So what did you think? Good? Bad? Just okay? Lemme know in a review!_

_I have decided that since no one seems to have a problem , or if you do you've just been kind enough not to say anything an di thank ou for that, I will be continuing this story through out December. We'll see about January. However just because I'm updating this story does not mean that I will be forgetting about my annual Christmas stories! I'll be starting those up very soon in the collection 'Stocking Stuffer' if you haven't checked them out feel free to do so! The updates for this story may not be as frequent but I do want to try to get at least four more chapters in but we'll see._

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, have a nice day and remember only 363 more days till Thanksgiving 2014!_


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